
Class 



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CCEYRIGHT DEPQSJE 



' 



Making Soil and 
Crops Pay More 



V-C 



By a 
FARMER 



Who Has Made a Life's Study of How to Get Most Out of Soils 
and Crops in Various Sections of this Country 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

FROM PHOTOGRAPHS OF V-C CROPS and PHOTOS USED 
BY COURTESY OF 

United States Department of Agriculture; 
North Carolina, Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin and 
Ohio Agricultural Experiment Stations; 
Dunham Co., S. L. Allen Co., Ginn and 
Co., Macmillan Co., Orange, Judd Co. 
Harris and Ewing, Underwood & Underwood. 



PUBLISHED AND COPYRIGHTED. 1918 

By CROP BOOK DEPARTMENT of 



V-C Sales Offices 

Richmond, Va. 
Norfolk, Va. 
Alexandria, Va. 
Durham, N. C. 
Charleston, S. C. 
Savanna, Ga. 
Columbus, Ga. 
Memphis, Tenn. 
Montgomery, Ala 




Winston-Salem, N. C. 



V-C Sales Offices 

New York City 

Baltimore, Md. 

Atlanta, Ga. 

Columbia, S. C. 

Jacksonville, Fla. 

Cincinnati, Ohio 

Shreveport, La. 

Fort Wayne, Ind. 

Mt. Pleasant, Tenn. 






OCT -I 1918 



ICI.A50T3B3 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



Contents of Subjects 

Part One 

Agriculture the Foundation of Our Industrial Existence: 

The Soil is the Farmer's Workshop 2 

Our Land Should Yield More Per Acre. — President Woodrow Wilson. 3 

What Luther Burbank Sees in Plant Life. — Luther Burbank 4 

Very Foundation of our Industrial Existence Overlooked. — Hon. 

D. F. Houston, Sec. of Agriculture 4 

The Man Who Discovered How Plants Feed. — Baron Justus von 

Liebig 5 

Henry Ward Beecher's Farmer's Creed. — Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. 6 

He Doubled the Yield of His Crops in One Season. — James J. Hill. 6 

A Great and Necessary Institution. — Prof. C. L. Newman 7 

Productiveness With Permanency 8 

Farming Is a Business Demanding the Best Men and Women. — 

Prof. G. I. Christie 8 

Washington Preached the Value of Fertilization. — George Washington 10 

One of the Foundation Industries of the World 10 

Do Fertilizers Injure the Land. — Ex- Director Arthur Goss 11 

Will Fertilizers Wash Out of the Soil?— Ex- Director Goss 13 

Marvelous Possibilities of Soil Building. — Pres. Andrew M. Soule. 13 

The System of Agriculture Which Will Be Most Permanently Profit- 
able. — Dr. Bradford Knapp 14 

The Need of Greater Agricultural Efficiency: 

With Increased Production. Profits Not Wanting 14 

Why the United States Is Not at the Top 14 

Belgium 243 Pounds, United States 31 Pounds 15 

Good Reason for Greater Farm Production 16 

Food Production Not Keeping Pace With Population 16 

30,000 New Mouths to Feed Every Week 16 

Business of Farming Bound to Increase 16 

Small But Great Is the United States 17 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



Contents of Subjects — Continued 

The Power and Profit of Soil Fertility: 

No Surer Profit Than Fertile Land 18 

American Farmer Produces Most Wealth 18 

Soils Originally Had Plenty of Plant-Food 19 

Bigger Crops at Less Cost by Fertilization 19 

What Happens When Crops Were Underfed 19 

Larger and More Thrifty Crops 20 

Manure Not a Balanced Fertilizer 20 

Fertilizer Experiences of Successful Corn Growers 21 

Richest Agricultural County in the United States 21 

The Nation's Greatest Asset Must be Conserved: 

An Investment for a Definite and Profitable Return 22 

Enormous Soil Fertility Depletion 22 

Multiplying Productive Capacity Pays 22 

The Stimulus of High Prices 23 

A Sound Agricultural Policy Needed 23 

Crops Increased Over Two Billion Dollars 24 

$1.30 or 4 Cents Worth of Fertilizer to the Acre 25 

Over $1,700 Net Profit Annually on One Acre for 18 Years 28 

Making the Farm an Efficient and Profitable Workshop 28 

A Few Interesting Facts for Farmers: 

A Millionaire Farmer's Views 29 

Why $140 an Acre Profit When Others Make $1,600 29 

Greatest Grin Producers in the World 29 

How a 50 Cent an Acre Farm Made Good 30 

Farmers Must Make Good Profits 30 

How Much Is a Billion Dollars? 31 

125 Years to Count a Billion Bushels 31 

How Plants Add to the Wealth of the World 32 

How Plants Supply Food, Clothing, Building Material, Medicines, 

etc 33 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



Contents of Subjects— Continued 

Miles of Roots and Millions of Mouths: 

Roots by the Mile 33 

A Few Great Drinkers 33 

Leaves With Millions of Mouths 34 

What Agricultural Educators and Experiment Stations have 
Found : 

General Tendency Is to Use Fertilizer in Too Small Amounts 35 

Three Hundred Trillion Cells in One Day 35 

Great Waste on the Farm 36 

Eight Billion on Pinhead 36 

What Constitutes Good Farming? 36 

The Reliability of Commercial Fertilizers 36 

Profits Within Farmers Control 37 

Fertile Soil and Bumper Crops for 4200 Years 37 

Feeding Apple Trees Pays 38 

Increased Yields Per Acre Did It 38 

Two Interesting Comparisons 39 

Why Home Mixing Is Not Best 39 

Indiana Farmers Found It Profitable 40 

$5.00 Worth of Commercial Fertilizer Gave Greater Increase Than 

Ten Tons of Manure 40 

Indiana Shows 187 Per Cent Increase 40 

What 30 Years Experiments Proved 40 

Fertilized Wheat 94 Per Cent Plump. Unfertilized Wheat 51 Per 

Cent Plump 41 

The Value of a Knowledge of Farm Management Principles.— Dr. 

W. J. Spillman 41 

2,000 Boys Produce Over 200,000 Bushels of Corn.— Dr. Seaman 

A. Knapp 

The Business of Farming a Banking Proposition: 

Why Are Your Soil and Crops Like a Bank Account?— Mr. Oliver 

J. Sands 

Soil and Crop Improvement Are More Important to the People of 
the United States Than Our Gold Production.— Mr. b. t. 

Schwedtmann 4 ^ 

$1,000 for Fertilizers But Not for a Barn.— Mr. William Ingle. . . 47 

The Banker and the Farmer.— John K. Ottley 48 

The Greatness of Our Country and Its Farming Industry 50 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



List of Questions and Answers 
Part Two 

PLANTS: 

What Are Plants? 55 

How Do Plants Live? 55 

How Do Plants Reproduce? 56 

How Do Seeds Germinate? 56 

How Do Plants Grow? 57 

What Must a Plant Have in Order to Live? 58 

Why Are There One-Seed-Leaf and Two-Seed-Leaf Plants? 60 

PLANT NUTRITION: 

What Are Organic and Inorganic Substances? 61 

What Is Plant-food? 61 

Where Do Plants Get Their Food? 62 

Should the Home of Plants Be a Congenial One? 63 

SOIL: 

What Is Soil? 63 

What Is Subsoil? 64 

Are There Many Kinds of Soils? 64 

How Are Soils Formed? 65 

Do Crops Find Enough Plant-food in the Soil? 66 

What Is a Fertile Soil? 66 

What Is a Poor Soil? 67 

FERTILITY: 

How May Soils Be Made Fertile? 68 

How Are Soils Depleted? 68 

How Does Tillage Deplete Soils? 68 

How Does Continuous Cropping Deplete Soils? 69 

How Does the Removal of Crops from the Soil Deplete It? 69 

How Are Depleted Soils Restored? 70 

How Does Good Tillage Conserve and Restore Fertility? 71 

How Does Adding Plant-food to the Soil Conserve and Restore 

Fertility? 71 

Why Is It More Profitable to Own and Cultivate Fertile Fields? . . 73 

DRAINAGE: 

Is Good Drainage Essential to Good Crops? 73 

What Are the Indications of the Need of Drainage? 74 

How May Wet Lands Be Drained? 75 

How Does Soil Wash Deplete Soils? 76 

How Does Leaching Deplete Soils? 78 

How Does the Checking of Leaching and Soil Wash Conserve and 

Restore Fertility? 78 

WATER, AIR AND SUN: 

How Does the Sun Benefit Soils and Crops? 80 

How Does Air Benefit Soils and Crops? 81 

How Does Water Move in the Soil? 81 

How Does Water Carry Plant-food? 82 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



List of Questions and Answers — Continued 

TREATING THE SOIL: 

Are All Soils in Good Physical Conditions for Plant Growth?. ... 83 

When Should Land be Plowed? 84 

How Should Land Be Plowed? 85 

How Does Turning the Land Help It? 86 

How Deep Should Land Be Plowed? 87 

How Does Humus Conserve and Restore Fertility? 88 

How Should Organic Matter Be Plowed into the Soil? 89 

When and How Should Land Be Subsoiled? 90 

When Is Subsoiling Beneficial? 91 

When Is Subsoiling Harmful? 91 

Why Are Deep, Mellow Soils Best? 91 

Why Should Soil Be Pulverized? 92 

How May Soils Be Treated to Take Up and Hold More Water?. . 93 

How Does Harrowing, Disking, Rolling, Etc., Help the Land?. . . 93 

How Does the Chemical Composition of Soils Affect Crop Growth? 93 

How Does the Physical Condition of Soils Affect Plant Growth? . 94 

How Does the Organic Content of Soils Affect Plant Growth? . . 95 

PLANT FOOD: 

What Does the Plant Do if It Does Not Get Enough Food? 95 

How Shall It Be Determined What Plant Food to Use? 95 

What Must the Farmer Do if There Is Not Enough Food in the 

Soil? 96 

What Is Commercial Fertilizer? 97 

What Is a Complete Fertilizer? 97 

Are "Fillers" and "Carriers" the Same? 97 

Do High Grade Fertilizers Contain Filler? 99 

What Is Rock Phosphate? 100 

What Is Acid Phosphate? 100 

How Does Phosphoric Acid Help the Plant? 101 

How Does Nitrogen or Ammonia Help the Plant? 101 

How Does Potash Help the Plant? 101 

FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZING, OR FEEDING CROPS: 

When Should Fertilizers Be Added to the Soil? 101 

How Should Fertilizers Be Applied to the Soil? 102 

Is the Manner of Applying Fertilizers Important? 102 

May Fertilizers Be Applied Profitably to Growing Crops? 104 

Is There More Than One Way to Apply Fertilizer? 105 

How Is Fertilizer Applied Broadcast? 105 

How Is Fertilizer Applied in the Drill? 106 

How Is Fertilizer Applied in the Hill? 108 

When Should Fertilizer Be Applied in the Drill or Row? 108 

When Should Fertilizer Be Applied Broadcast? 108 

How Is Fertilizer Applied Interculturally? 109 

How Is Fertilizer Applied as a Top Dresser? 110 

What Advantage Has Top Dressing to Crops? Ill 

Do Fertilizers Make the Soil Rich? Ill 

Do Fertilizers Save Labor? 112 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



List of Questions and Answers — Continued 

Do Fertilizers Improve the Quality and Increase the Market Value 
of Crops? 113 

SOIL CONDITIONS: 

What Soil Conditions Must Be Present If Fertilizers Are to Be 

Effective? 114 

How Shall Acid Soils Be Corrected? 115 

Does the Color of Soil Affect Crop Growth? 115 

What Effects Have Manures on Crops? 116 

Is It Important to Have a Good Seed Bed? 116 

GOOD SEEDS: 

Are Good Seeds Necessary to Produce Good Crops? 117 

Is It Important to Plant Only Good Varieties? 118 

How May Crops Be Improved by Seed Selection? 119 

Do Fertilizers Improve the Quality, Vitality and High Repro- 
ductive Power of Seeds? 120 

How Do Crops Cross and Become Mixed? 120 

PLANTING AND CULTIVATING: 

What Distances Should Crops Be Given in the Row? 122 

Does Good Soil Preparation Make Cultivation More Effective? . . 123 

What Benefits Are Derived from Cultivation? 123 

When and How Should a Crop Be Cultivated? 124 

With What Implements Should a Crop Be Cultivated? 125 

Why Do Plants Have Roots ? 126 

Why Is Cultivation So Important in Dry Seasons? 127 

How Late Should Cultivation Be Continued? 127 

ROTATION OF CROPS: 

What Is Rotation of Crops? 128 

What Are the Benefits of Rotation? 129 

How Does Rotation Benefit and Rest the Land at the Same Time? 131 

How Does Rotation Benefit the Crop? 131 

How Does Rotation Conserve and Restore Fertility? 131 

What Crops Sh ould Be Grown in Different Sections and on Dif- 
ferent Farms? 132 

Wh y Are Some Soils Adapted to Some Crops and Not to Others? 133 

CROP ENEMIES: 

Are Plants Attacked, Injured and Killed by Diseases? 133 

Are Insects Injurious to Crops? 134 



PREFACE 

The author of this book has endeavored to lay out a ground- 
work of facts sufficiently complete to indicate the nature and 
needs of soil and crops, hoping thereby to serve the farmer as 
well as the student of Agriculture for thoroughly preparing 
themselves to comprehend the subject of plant nutrition, and to 
form some accurate idea of how and to what extent crops depend 
upon the soil for the elements of their growth. 

For the sake of comprising within a reasonable space that 
information which may most immediately and practically serve 
the agriculturist, some interesting details have necessarily been 
omitted, which, however, we feel will not render this book less 
practical or less valuable. 

The object of this little book is to more than instruct, it is 
to teach the subject of plant-food and its relation to soil and 
crops so thoroughly that the reader may readily and practically 
comprehend and apply the information contained herein to his 
lasting benefit and profit. 

Every practical man knows that we earn more only as we 
learn more. May this information contained herein act as a 
guide to those who desire to learn how to increase and improve 
the productiveness of their soil and crops by supplying the soil 
with the lacking elements of fertility, and growing thrifty fields 
of crops economically and profitably. 

The more the farmer knows the more he can do. The pro- 
gressive Agriculturist now sees that Chemistry has opened a 
splendid future for the Art that has always been and always 
will be the prime support of all Nations — Agriculture. 

The publishers of this book have spent large sums in ac- 
quiring beneficial and practical Agricultural information for the 
purpose of placing it at the disposal of those interested in better 
crops and greater prosperity on our farms. It is certain 
if this information is applied practically, a revolution could be 
brought about on the farms of this country, which would result 
in an era of prosperity such as has never been known. 

Richmond, Va. The Publishers. 




Such fertile fields as these are only possible by using the most modern and best methods in 
Agriculture. These methods coupled with the wise use of Commercial Fertilizers are bound 
to bring bountiful harvests and will make America's Poil and Crops Pay More. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



Agriculture the Foundation of Our 
Industrial Existence 

Farming is the biggest business of America, the biggest 
business of the Earth. Without farming, the trusts, the rail- 
roads, the banks, all business, all industries would crumble. 

It will take years, a decade probably, possibly more than a 
decade, for the Agriculture of Europe to be restored to the 
condition in which it was before the war. The world must 
look to America, the nearest and largest depot of supply, for 
food. America must not alone feed itself, it must feed Europe 
now and for years to come. 




The Big Business of America is directly dependent upon Agriculture for her existence. 
Although the farm and the city are sometimes separated by miles; their interests are identical 
and without Agriculture our Commerce would crumble. 

Mr. George E. Roberts, of the National City Bank of New 
York, a wise and conservative observer, said: "The prosperity 
of the farmer is best secured by an increase in the yield of his 
fields. How to accomplish this is not alone the farmer's problem ; 
it is everybody's problem. Agriculture must find increasing 
prosperity, as other industries do, in a larger output at a lower 
unit of cost. We will have a Peace prosperity greater and more 
satisfactory than the prosperity based on War." 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



America's opportunity lies in mobilizing her Agricultural 
energies and pushing production to the maximum. We should 
all assist in adding to the material welfare of our country by 
encouraging more abundant crops, for Agriculture is the foun- 
dation of our industrial existence. 

The Soil Is the Farmer's Workshop 

The soil is really the farmer's factory, for it is the workshop 
of his crops. Through the soil alone can the farmer influence 
the amount of vegetable production, for the atmosphere, light 
and heat of the sun are beyond his control. Hence, the product 
and value of the farmer's fields lie principally in the quality of 
the soil. As the soil is really a crop factory, this factory re- 
quires the same sound, business-like management as any other 
successful factory. 

The manufacturer whose factory is well equipped with 
machinery, can not successfully operate this machinery without 
the necessary power. No more can the farmer operate his crop 
factory successfully and profitably unless he has the necessary 
power, and that power is the proper amount of the right kind of 
plant-food. His soil must be full of this crop-growing power if 
he wants an abundant and profitable output from his factory. 

Since the soil is the source of wealth, it remains for the farmer 
to co-operate with Nature in order to secure from the soil the 
full benefit of its fertility, and at the same time prevent depletion. 
A well cultivated and fertile soil is a storehouse of unlimited 
wealth. This wealth is only obtainable through the crops 
grown in the soil. As these crops grow they take from the soil 
some of its fertility, hence, the soil must be supplied with fresh 
stores of nourishment or plant-food after its supply has been 
tapped, so that succeeding crops will find the necessary nourish- 
ment for their proper growth and maturity. 

The maintaining of the productiveness of the soil means that 
there shall be preserved or stored within the soil sufficient quan- 
tities of soluble plant-food to produce maximum crops. In 
other words, the soil must be kept in good physical condition, 
and the total supplies of the various elements must be main- 
tained if the soil is to remain permanently fertile. _ A system 
by which the available plant-food is indefinitely maintained is 
the permanent system of Agriculture. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 




WOODROW WILSON 

President of the United States 



Our Land Should Yield More Per Acre 

President Wilson, that great disciple of conservation, has 
always been a keen observer, and though not a farmer like 
Washington and Jefferson were, he fully recognizes the needs of 
the farm and the farmer. That in order to supply food to our 
increasing population of the future we must see to it that we 
increase the productiveness of our farms, and how this can be 
done he tells us in very few words, as evidenced by the following: 

"It is necessary that our land should yield more per acre than 
it does now. Production per acre, with its coincident valuation, 
increases in direct proportion to the plant-food furnished it. 

"We have got to increase the product at every point where 
it is susceptible of being increased. We have got to study how 
to assist nature by making the most suitable use of our several 
and various soils. The pine barrens of our Southern coast need 
not be barren at all, that if we add a single additional chemical 
element we can make the sand blossom and produce crops, and 
that if Nature is only questioned closely she will yield us her 
richest products for our own assistance and for the assistance 
of the rest of the World." 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



What Luther Burbank Sees 
In Plant Life 

Ex-Governor Pardee of California said: 
"Burbank, like Columbus, has shown us the 
way to new continents, new forms of life, 
new sources of wealth, and we, following in 
his footsteps, will profit by and from his 
genius." Let us now see if we, too, can not 
profit by what Burbank has done. This is 
what he sees: 

"We have in our own hands the power 
of making literal 'New Creations' in plant 
life. What has been already accomplished 
is but the beginning of horticultural achieve- 
ments that will surpass the most sanguine 
expectations of even a decade ago. In the 
hands of the plant breeder rests the future 
destiny of all mankind. " 

"Abundant, well balanced nourishment and thorough culture 
of plants will always produce good results." 




Luther Burbank — Plant Breeder 




Hon. D. F. Houston, Secretary 

U. S. Department of 

Agriculture 



Very Foundation of Our Industrial 
Existence Overlooked 

Secretary Houston, head of the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, in one of his 
recent Reports to the President of the 
United States, among other things, said: 

"Agriculture has made marked progress 
in a number of directions, but as an Industry 
it has not kept pace with the other activi- 
ties of the country. 

"We have been so bent on building up 
great industrial centers; on rivaling the 
nations of the world in manufacturing and 
commerce that we have over- 
looked the very foundation of our industrial 
existence 

"The aid of Agriculture must be 

to establish supremacy in the production 
for each acre. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



"The profits of agriculture ultimately depend on the intel- 
ligent cultivation of the soil and the preservation of its fertility. " 

At the present rate of progress now being made by our 
Department of Agriculture and the various State Agricultural 
Institutions, it will not be a long time before there will also be 
a marked improvement in our Agricultural Industry. 

Under the terms of the Smith-Lever Bill there will be ample 
funds provided to make this possible. The funds thus available 
increase from year to year until the States appropriate annually 
a total of $4,500,000 and the Government a like sum. By 1923 
this fund will have accumulated to the sum of $9,000,000. 

The Man Who Discovered How 
Plants Feed 

Baron Justus von Liebig surprised the 
world with the statement that crops or 
plants do not derive their nourishment 
from humus alone. It was this noted 
scientist and chemist who established a 
laboratory in Germany for the researches 
in organic chemistry and the application of 
chemistry to Agriculture, and in 1840 he 
announced his first scientific discovery, in 
which he applied the principles of chemistry 
to Agriculture by a scientific method of 
feeding plants. 

He showed wherein crops and plants 
feed from the chemicals in the soil, and if 
these chemicals were not present in the soil, 
available to the growing crops or plants, 
that there could be no crops or plants. 

He clearly demonstrated and proved where and how crops 
and plants get their food; how crops depleted the soil, and 
how wornout soils could be restored to fertility and productive- 
ness by the application of artificial or chemical fertilizers. This 
great and wonderful discovery of von Liebig's was indeed an 
epoch-making discovery which all mankind has benefited by. 
To what extent von Liebig's discovery is today being applied by 
farmers throughout the civilized world is evidence of its practi- 
cability and necessity, though too many farmers in our own land 
have not as yet learned the great value of same, but those who 
have appreciate and value the use of Commercial Fertilizers on 
their soils and crops. 




Baron Justus von Liebig 
Scientist and Chemist 



6 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 




Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. 



Henry Ward Beecher's Farmer's 
Creed 

It was Beecher who said: "He that 
would look with contempt on the pursuits 
of the farmer is not worthy of the name of 
man." Beecher's Farmer's Creed of many 
years ago is as appropriate today as it was 
then. Though Beecher was not a farmer, 
the following indicates that he knew what 
was good for the farm and the farmers: 

"I believe that the soil likes to eat as 
well as its owner, and ought, therefore, to 
be liberally fed. 

"I believe in large crops which leave the 
land better than they found them — making 
the farmer and the farm both glad at once. 

"I believe that every farm should own a 
good farmer. 

"I believe in going to the bottom of 
things and, therefore, in deep plowing and 
enough of it." 



>> 



"He Doubled the Yield of His Crops in One Season 

The late James J. Hill was indeed one of 
the most progressive men of the day. Be- 
sides being a builder of railroads he was 
also a most successful builder of prosperous 
farms and farmers. 

As a boy he labored on his father's farm. 
In later years, by his unlimited and sincere 
confidence in the future of farming, he 
brought prosperity to many thousands of 
farmers. 

His belief in the possibilities of greater 
farm development was expressed in his ex- 
tensive work in promoting more profitable 
methods of farming, to meet changing con- 
ditions of soil depletion. 

He proved by practical demonstration 
to thousands of farmers, that there is no 
surer profit than that which comes from 
the development of fertile land. 

James J. Hill — Farm Builder 




MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



He builded wisely and strongly, and his works remain to bear 
witness that he turned a wilderness and barren lands into pro- 
ductive and prosperous farms. To what extent his methods 
proved of value may be gathered from the following account of 
his practical demonstrations conducted by him on some of his 
own farms: 

"On 150 farms Mr. Hill demonstrated that by the use of 
fertilizers he could double the yield of his crops in one season. 
His average production of wheat, barley, and oats was more 
than double the average production of the states in which his 
farms were located. 

"His wheat showed an average gain of 11.41 bushels per 
acre; barley a gain of 16.38 bushels per acre, and the crop gain 
in oats was 22.17 bushels per acre." 

Indeed, James J. Hill did much to make his great country 
greater, and those in it happier, more contented and more 
prosperous. 

A Great and Necessary Institution 

There are few men who have made a 
more careful and persistent study of soils 
and crops than C. L. Newman, Professor 
of Agriculture at the North Carolina State 
College of Agriculture and Engineering, 
Raleigh, N. C. Prof. Newman is a practical 
farmer who has made a life's study of soils 
and crops. He sums up the needs of plant- 
food for soils and crops as follows : 

"The ideal fertilizer for a crop growing 
in a soil is that fertilizer which contains 
plant-food elements in appropriate propor- 
tions and in forms that are available to the 
crop grown. Not only must the contents 
of a fertilizer represent plant demands and 
soil deficiencies, but be available in quan- 
tities and proportions to suit the needs of 
the crop as the needs develop. 

"Fertilizers must fit the soil and fit the 
crop, such fertilizers are the best, and no 
others are as good. Fertilizers are not only 
a great institution but a necessary one." 




Prof. C. L. Newman of N. C. 

State College of Agriculture 

and Engineering 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



Productiveness With Permanency 

A prominent member of a Western State Advisory Com- 
mittee on Soil Investigations most admirably points out the 
future greatness of Agricultural development in these words : 

"The only way to supply an abundance of good to the in- 
creasing population of the future is by increasing the productive- 
ness of the land; and the only way to increase the productiveness 
of the land is the application of scientific principles of the art of 
Agriculture. The problem of the past was production; our 
problem today is productiveness with permanency. 

"Plants will not properly mature when insufficiently fed any 
more than will animals when not properly nourished. 

"It is a duty to ourselves that we get as much out of the soil 
as possible, that we may be better able to reach the physical 
comforts and enjoyments which belong to a higher develop- 
ment. But it is a greater duty to posterity that we leave these 
lands richer than we found them. 

"The productive power of our normal well drained and well 
cultivated land depends almost wholly upon the power of the 
soil to feed the crops." 

Farming Is a Business Demanding 
the Best Men and Women 

Prof. G. I. Christie formerly of Purdue 
University, LaFayette, Ind., now an assist- 
ant to the Secretary of the U. S. Dept. of 
Agriculture, is one of the foremost Agricul- 
tural Educators in the United States. In 
a recent address, entitled: "The New 
Agriculture," he took for his text these 
words of Garfield's: 

"At the head of all the Sciences and 
Arts, at the head of civilization and pro- 
gress, stands — not Militarism, the Science 
that kills; not Commerce, the Art that 
accumulates wealth — but Agriculture, the 
mother of all Industry and the maintainer 
of human life." 

The following statements made by 
Prof. Christie are decidedly instructive, as 
they point the way to better Agriculture asst. to Secretary 

J ^ J ., ° of U. S. Dept. of 

and greater prosperity: Agriculture 




MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



"Agriculture stands as the basis of the prosperity of this 
country. The development of all other resources and the big 
business of our cities depend upon the food stuffs which must 
come from the soil. Lessons from older countries teach us that 
it is impossible to remove plant-food continually from year to 
year without returning part at least. 

"I believe, as the Agricultural work develops, more and more 
attention will be paid to commercial plant-food. The better 
farmers of the country today are the largest users of commercial 
plant-food. 

"Why are we turning such unanimous and universal attention 
to the subject of Agriculture? When you come to study the 
problem a little and when you come to see it in its several phases, 
it is readily understood. The population of this country has 
been doubling practically every twenty-five years. It is in- 
creasing now at the rate of about two million souls annually. To 
feed these two million hungry mouths requires about seventy-five 
million bushels of cereal producing food-stuffs. 

"We are told by government officials that if we take in all the 
land that may be irrigated, all the land in the South that some 
day may be drained, we have less than 750,000 square miles of 
additional land for Agricultural purposes. Last year alone, 
35,000 square miles of that land was taken up, so it will be only 
a short time until all the land is brought under the plow. One 
of our statesmen, who has given considerable thought to the 
subject, predicts that if our present rate of increase in population 
continues, we will have 150,000,000 people by the year 1950. 
The great question in the minds of our people today is, how are 
we going to feed them? 

"Production and consumption are beginning now to equalize 
with the result that high prices are here and here to stay. The 
day has come when we have to work to get the increase in food 
supply to meet the increased demand of an increasing population. 

"Up in northern Indiana there is a tract of land known as the 
muck area. Our experiment station was appealed to for aid 

In an experiment the station men put on about 300 

pounds of muriate of potash per acre, and in the four years that 
the experiment was running they harvested 96 bushels more of corn 
where the land had been treated than where it had not been treated. 

"In the soils of the southern part of Indiana it was found that 
another element was lacking — phosphorus. When an applica- 
tion of phosphoric acid was made it was found that the yield of 
wheat, was running along 6, 7, and 8 bushels per acre, was soon 
turned into a yield of 14, 16, 18 and 20 bushels per acre. 



10 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



"The importance of securing an increased yield is readily 
recognized. An increase of five bushels per acre on the 60,000,000 
acres of wheat now grown in the United States would result at 
one dollar per bushel in an increased wealth of $300,000,000. 

"Farming is not mere drudgery, but a business demanding 
and paying for the best brains and efforts of the best men 
and women." 

Washington Preached the Value of 
Fertilization 

When Washington died, besides his 
wife's estate and the Mount Vernon pro- 
perty, he possessed 51,300 acres, exclusive 
of town property. He was one of the 
wealthiest Americans of his time, and it is 
a question if a fortune was ever more 
honestly acquired or more thoroughly 
deserved. 

Washington's greatest pride was to be 
thought the first farmer in America. Early 
and late he preached to his overseers the 
value of fertilization. During the career 
of George Washington, the first President 
of the United States, he acted several im- 
portant parts, but in none did he find such 
pleasure as in farming, as evidenced by 
his statement: 

"I think that the life of a husbandman of all others is the 
most delectable. It is honorable, it is amusing, and, with 
judicious management, it is profitable. Agriculture has ever 
been the most favorite amusement of my life. I shall begrudge 
no reasonable expense that will contribute to the improvement 
and neatness of my farms; for nothing pleases me better than to 
see them in good order, and everything trim, handsome, and 
thriving about them. I am lead to reflect how much more 
valuable to the undebauched mind is the task of making im- 
provements on the earth than all the vain glory which can be 
acquired by ravaging it." 

One of the Foundation Industries of the World : 

The editor of the "Manufacturers Record" points out clearly 
the necessity of proper fertilization of the soil in the following: 




George Washington 

The First President of the 

United States 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 11 

"One of the foundation industries of the world is the manu- 
facture of fertilizers, for without the proper fertilization of the 
soil there would be a steady deterioration which would gradually 
exhaust all soils and ultimately lead to the agricultural ruin of 
any country, and that would mean the ruin of all its industries. 
Of recent years we have been learning more and more about the 
restoration of soil fertility and the necessity of increasing the 
yield per acre in order to reduce the cost of farm products." 

Do Fertilizers Injure the Land? 

Ex-Director Arthur Goss of the Purdue 
University Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion of LaFayette, Ind. answers this often 
asked question as follows: 

"The following table offers about the 
best answer to this question obtainable. 
The experiment cited is being conducted 
at Rothamsted, England, and has been in 
progress more than 50 years. No results 
covering anything like so long a period of 
time are obtainable in the country. 

TABLE I 
Continuous Wheat Experiment, Rotham- 

Ex-Director Arthur Goss, a j ti _i j j» tnmn. i *^*~. 

Purdue University Agricultural Sted, England, from 1852 to 1902 

Experiment Station 

Pounds of Fertilizer applied annually Average Yield Yield 

Ammonia Acid Potash 1852-1902 1902 

Commercial Sul P hate Phosphate Bushels per acre 

Fertilizers 600 lbs. 350 lbs. 200 lbs. 37 45 

Manure 14 tons annually 36 42 

Unfertilized 13 13 

"By referring to the table it will be seen that the application 
of a very large quantity of Fertilizer to wheat each year for 50 
years has not only not injured the productiveness of this soil, 
but has, in fact, actually increased the average annual yield from 
13 to 37 bushels per acre. It will also be noted that the yield 
on the fertilized plats the last year was 45 bushels per acre, 
while the yield on the unfertilized plats the same year was only 
13 bushels per acre." 




12 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

Director Goss further points out in Circular No. 10 of the 
Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station some in- 
teresting facts concerning experiments made in this country on 
Southern Indiana Soils by the Purdue University Agricultural 
Experiment Station. We quote from him as follows: 

"Investigations have been in progress at the Experiment 
Station for a number of years past, with a view of ascertaining 
the methods of fertilization best adapted to the different soils 
and crops of the State. In this connection tests have been made 
on practically all the important soil types, and have involved 
the use of such materials as: 

Dried blood Iron sulphate 

Nitrate of soda Iron hydrate 

Bone Magnesium sulphate 

Acid phosphate Magnesium carbonate 

Dicalcic phosphate Sodium sulphate 

Rock phosphate Copper sulphate 

Muriate of potash Carbon black 

Sulphate of potash Muck 

Carbonate of potash Clay 

Ashes Straw manure 

Slaked lime Legume crops 

Ground limestone 
"It may be said in a general way that while occasionally soils 
are found that do not respond to Fertilizers, usually some com- 
bination has been found that has produced handsome profits 
and not infrequently enormous returns. There is for example 
no question that the application of potash in considerable quan- 
tities on muck soil is very profitable in connection with the 
growing of corn and other crops. It also seems certain that the 
liberal use of Fertilizers on the potato crop is highly profitable, 
and that Fertilizers will usually pay well on the wheat and corn 
crops, if used in the proper proportions and right amounts. 
The work that has been done emphasizes the fact however, that 
in order to receive the best results it is necessary to understand 
the needs of the particular soil and crops to be used. It is a 
very easy matter to waste a large amount of money in the use 
of Fertilizers through the application of unnecessary elements 
and improper forms of plant-food, and the only wonder is that 
such satisfactory results are secured under the present hap- 
hazard system in vogue. There is not the slightest doubt that 
a large and profitable increase in crop production could be 
brought about in the State by a more systematic and intelligent 
use of Fertilizers. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 13 






f 

Figure Two 

"In Figure 2 is shown the amount of wheat recovered on 
the unfertilized plats and on the plats receiving the complete 
Fertilizer in the Scott County experiment. While this is perhaps 
rather an extreme case, which could not be duplicated every 
time, it is the result of a carefully conducted experiment, and 
shows the yields actually secured on this soil. 

"The Fertilizers applied to the KPN plat consisted of 60 
pounds of dried blood, 200 pounds of acid phosphate and 30 
pounds of muriate of potash per acre, and cost at prices pre- 
vailing at the time this experiment was conducted, S3. 20 per 
acre. The increase in yield due to the Fertilizers was over 26 
bushels of wheat per acre." 

Marvelous Possibilities of Soil Building: 

There are few men better posted on the actual needs of the 
soil and crops in the South than President Andrew M. Soule 
of the Georgia State College of Agriculture. The able work 
he has done in developing Agriculture and Agricultural Educa- 
tion in the South is well known. To what extent he recognizes 
the need of proper plant feeding is indicated by the following 
when he declared: 

"There were marvelous possibilities of soil building, and 
that the farmer who would not feed his soil was like the man 
who bought a fine horse, put it in the stable and refused to 
feed and water it, and let it die. 

"If you are going to fertilize, fertilize right. Feed the plants 
liberally. Don't compel the plants to kill themselves hunting 
for and chasing after beggarly little plant-food." 



14 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 




The System of Agriculture Which Will 
Be Most Permanently Profitable: 

Few men in the United States have done 
so much to improve conditions on our farms 
as Dr. Bradford Knapp, Chief, Office of 
Extension Work in the South, U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. Dr. Knapp succeeded 
his father, the late Dr. Seaman Knapp, as 
the head of the Boys' Club Movement 
under the auspices of the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture. To what extent he recog- 
nized the importance of permanent soil 
fertility is shown in the following statement 
made by him: 

"The wise and judicious use of Fertili- 
zers is an element of profitable farming. 
Such practices in the use of Fertilizers as 
bring the best results will in the long run 
be followed by farmers. A complete crop- 
ping system which aids in building up soil 
fertility, coupled with the wisest and best use of Commercial 
Fertilizers will, in the end, be the system of Agriculture which 
will last longer and be the most permanently profitable. " 



Dr. Bradford Knapp, Chief, 
)ffice of Extension Work in the 
South, U. S. Department 
of Agriculture 



The Need of Greater Agricultural Efficiency 

With Increased Production Profits Not Wanting: 

Are we prepared to meet the situation which confronts us by 
producing enough food for our own use and also a considerable 
amount for other countries? Under existing conditions it would 
be unpatriotic not to fertilize when we know we can help our 
country and our people by the proper use of Fertilizers. With 
a net return of one to five dollars for each dollar judiciously 
invested in fertilizers, the profits are certainly not wanting. 
Let us see what other countries have done. 

Why the U. S. Is Not At the Top: 

Thirty years ago the soil of Germany and of France was, as 
revealed by official crop statistics, about equally productive, but 
during the three decades Germany's crop-yield per acre has 
nearly doubled while that of France has increased but a tenth. 
In 1881-1886 the average yield of wheat per acre in Germany 
was 19 bushels, and in France 18 bushels. This increased in 
1911-13 to 33 bushels for Germany and 20 bushels for France. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 15 

It is interesting to note the yield of certain crops in various 
countries compared with the U. S. as shown in following. 

Bushels Per Acre 
Country and Year Wheat Rye Barley Oats Potatoes 

Germany, 1913 33.0 30.4 40.9 61.0 235.4 

Russia, 1912 10.1 14.3 16.1 23.6 121.3 

Austria, 1912 22.3 23.2 29.7 36.1 148.7 

Hungary 18.8 18.4 25.8 28.9 125.3 

France, 1912 20.5 16.4 26.9 35.9 142.7 

Canada, 1912 20.3 19.1 31.0 41.7 172.0 

United States, 1913 .. . 16 . 16 . 2 23 . 7 29 . 5 90 . 2 

Such returns as these from soil cultivated for hundreds of 
years in climate inferior to ours for grain production, tell the 
whole story of American Farm methods. 

Let us increase our Agricultural Efficiency, as the farm is 
the base of our National pyramid of wealth. We should be at 
the head of this list, not way at the bottom, and — we will. 




When the American Farmers use Commercial Fertilizers they can produce record crops. 
The above illustration shows a wheat field that yielded 50 bushels to the acre. This splendid 
yield was secured by the liberal use of V-C Fertilizers. 

Belgium 243 Pounds, U. S. 31 Pounds: 

However, the Belgium farmers produce the highest yields of 
wheat, and use more Commercial Fertilizer per acre than is 
used in any part of the world. They use an average of 
243 pounds of Fertilizer per acre on all cultivated lands not 
including animal manures, and get in return an average of 373^ 
bushels of wheat per acre. Germany, the second highest user 



16 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

of Fertilizers — where the farmers apply 149.52 pounds per acre 
aside from animal manures — gets the second highest yield of 
wheat; 33 bushels per acre. In the United States we average 
only 31 pounds of Fertilizer per acre on our cultivated lands, 
and do not average one-fourth that on our wheat lands and 
get in return only 16 bushels of wheat per acre. 

Good Reason for Greater Farm Production: 

There is a good reason why the production on our farms 
should be increased. Our urban or city population has increased 
much more than the rural population. The movement of 
population in the U. S. appears in the following table: 

Increase in total population, 1880-1910 83 . 3% 

Increase in urban population, 1880-1910 188 . 5% 

Increase in rural population, 1880-1910 39 . 4% 

Food Production Not Keeping Pace With Population: 

That our food production has not kept pace with the growth 
of our population is evidenced by the following which shows 
per capita production of wheat in the United States thirty 
years ago in comparison with that of today: 

Average Annual Annual Per 

Year Population Wheat Production Capita Production 

1876-1884 50,156,000 426,922,000 bu. 8.5 bu. 

1906-1914 91,972,000 712,474,000 bu. 7.7 bu. 

To have had the same per capita production in the last nine 
years as in the earlier period would have required an annual pro- 
duction of 73,600,000 bushels more than was actually produced. 

30,000 New Mouths to Feed Every Week: 

Some idea may be formed as to the growth of our population 
when it is known that every week brings more than 30,000 new 
mouths to feed, for it has been estimated that we grow in the 
United States at the rate of 4433 folks a day. At this rate our 
growth in a few years hence will be at the rate of 10,000 a day. 
These newcomers must all be fed and clothed. Every addition 
to our population adds new responsibilities and demands 
upon the farmer, for it is on him most of all that civilization 
depends for sustenance. 

Business of Farming Bound to Increase: 

America has doubled its population within the last 40 years, 
and during the next like period may be obliged to meet the needs 
of fully 200,000,000 people. The farmer not only feeds the 
world but saves it, and to maintain the productivity of our 
farms is the ultimate problem of America and the foremost 
question confronting us. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



17 



Small But Great is the United States: 

Our country covers less than 6% of the earth's area and 
numbers about 5% of the earth's population. It produces 76% 
of all the corn grown in the world; 70% of the world's oil; 59% 
of all copper, 43% of the pig iron; 37% of the world's coal; 
35% of its tobacco; 26% of its silver; one-fourth of all its wheat; 
21% of its gold; and contains more than a third of all the wealth 
of the civilized world. The wealth of the United States is now 
about $240,000,000,000, which is more than the combined wealth 
of England, France and Germany. 





Although our area and population are small in comparison with the rest of the world, the above 
diagram illustrates well the greatness of our industrial and agricultural production. 

"The wealth of the United States will be greater a year from 
now than it is now, and still greater at the end of each suc- 
ceeding year. Improvements will go on, not so fast perhaps as 
in time of peace, but houses will be built, farms will be improved, 
industrial equipment will be increased and savings will grow. 

"The South is likely to grow more of all crops in the future, 
and the work being done everywhere for a productive Agri- 
culture is giving promise of valuable results. The country is 
being awakened as never before to a realization of the fact that 
all industries are dependent upon Agriculture." 

{Bulletin National City Bank, New York.) 



18 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



The Power and Profit of Soil Fertility 

No Surer Profit Than Fertile Land: 

Never in the history of our country have such efforts been 
made to improve conditions on the farm; never has the need 
been so recognized of applying more profitable methods on the 
farm; and never have our farmers recognized and appreciated 
the real value of making and keeping their land fertile. As the 
late James J. Hill said: "There is no surer profit than that which 
comes from the development of fertile land well adapted to some 
staple crop." 




America produces more than three-fourths of all the corn grown and a crop like the above is 
by no means uncommon where Commercial Fertilizers are used. 500 lbs. of V-C Fertilizers 
were used per acre on this field and the yield averaged more than 80 bushels to the acre. 

Soil Fertility Pays. 

American Farmer Produces Most Wealth: 

If asked to name the most valuable minerals of the United 
States, most persons would promptly suggest gold, silver, iron, 
lead, zinc and copper. Yet the American farmer mines more 
wealth from the soil in a single year than has been taken from 
the gold mines of the United States in all the years since Colum- 
bus discovered America. It is literally true that our most im- 
portant mineral deposits are the elements of plant-food con- 
tained in our soils. The soil is the only mine known which 
under proper management and liberal fertilization will not run 
out. But too many farmers are yet "mining" their soil by 
taking everything out and putting nothing back. A nation 
built upon Agriculture will perish when the soil can no longer 
yield its harvest. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



19 



Soils Originally Had Plenty of Plant-Food: 

Our best soils originally contained from 6,000 to 8,000 pounds 
of nitrogen, from 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of phosphorus, and from 
30,000 to 45,000 pounds of potassium to the acre in the first 
twelve inches, but continuous cultivation, heavy cropping, sur- 
face washing, and leaching have reduced the store of plant-food 
in most soils much below these amounts. It is evident that if 
most soils are to produce heavy yields, either the food they 
contain must be made available more rapidly than it is in the 
average soil, or the crops must be helped with Fertilizers. 

Bigger Crops at Less Cost by Fertilization: 

A prominent captain of industry of the Middle West said : 
"Fertilization dovetails with diversification. It is one of the 
principal objects of diversification. It produces bigger yields 
per acre, thereby reducing the cost of production per acre. The 
problem in a nutshell is to provide a bigger profit for the producer, 
and lower prices for the consumer. In what better manner can a 
bigger profit be assured than through the production of bigger 
crops at proportionately less cost? That is what intelligent fer- 
tilization will accomplish." 

What Happened When Crops Were Underfed: 

The State of Alabama gives us an excellent proof of the value 
of Fertilizers and to what extent their use effect crops. Let us 
take the Cotton crop in that State for three years, showing the 
amount of Fertilizers used each year and the number of bales 
produced. 




What happens to Cotton when no Fertilizers are used is well illustrated in the above. The 

insert shows the results where Fertilizers were not applied. On the other field 500 lbs. of 

V-C was applied per acre and the results speak for itself. 



20 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

Fertilizers Used in Alabama Cotton Produced in Alabama 

1914 600,000 tons 1914 1,731,751 bales 

1915 400,000 tons 1915 1,025,818 bales 

1916 210,000 tons 1916 543,987 bales 

Larger and More Thrifty Crops: 

In the Bureau of Soils Bulletin No. 48, issued by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture in Washington, a most interesting and 
significent fact is pointed out which should be of special interest 
to the farmers of the Southern States who have neglected their 
opportunity by not growing small grain on some of their land. 
We quote from the above mentioned bulletin as follows: 

"It is significent that the sandy soils of the Norfolk and 
Portsmouth series collected from the Southern States, where 
wheat is seldom grown, have produced, on an average, larger 
and more thrifty wheat plants by the application of a Complete 
Fertilizer and lime than have been produced by the same or 
other treatment on soils of the Marshall or Miami series from 
Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and New York where wheat does well" 

Therefore, why should the farmer of the Southern States not 
plant more wheat and other small grain on his land? Hasn't 
he depended upon Western and Northern grain long enough and 
paid a big price for doing so? The single State of Illinois grows 
about 130,000,000 bushels more of oats than is grown in all the 
Southern States combined. 

Manure Not a Balanced Fertilizer: 

The "Indiana Farmer" points out a few pertinent facts con- 
cerning the value of Commercial Fertilizers and barn manure. 
It is a well known fact that the West and Middle-West farmers 
have an idea that by using barn manure on their soil and crops 
it is all that is necessary. That this is a fallacy the "Indiana 
Farmer" points out as follows: 

"Manure alone is not a balanced Fertilizer. It is deficient 
in the mineral substances which all plants demand. To get the 
most out of our manure we should supplement its use with 
Commercial Fertilizers carrying plenty of phosphorus and 
potash. All experience proves that Fertilizers are most pro- 
fitable when used judiciously in connection with barn manures 
and green manures. Barn manures must undergo chemical 
changes in the soil before the plant-food in them can be used by 
the growing plants. Commercial Fertilizers contain readily 
available plant-food. This may be assimilated and used at once 
by the plant to give it a good start while the manure is being 
worked over in the soil to help out later on. There is no danger 
in using plenty of Commercial Fertilizers providing the ground 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 21 

is not allowed to run down and lose its vegetable or organic 
matter. 

Fertilizer Experiences of Successful Corn Growers: 

"The fertilized rows had larger ears and fewer soft nubbins. 
The corn was drier and more solid, so that a later weighing would 
show a greater difference in favor of the Fertilizer. The ferti- 
lized rows yielded at the rate of 463^ bushels per acre, the un- 
fertilized not quite 36 bushels, a gain of 10J^ bushels due to the 
Fertilizer. At only 60 cents per bushel of corn, the price at 
husking time, the increased yield is worth $6.30. The cost of 
Fertilizer was $1.20 per acre. The judicius use of Fertilizers 
practically guarantees a net return of 400%. It hardly need be 
said that Fertilizers can be used to good advantage on practically 
every farm in the State." 

Richest Agricultural County in the U. S. : 

And where do you suppose this richest of Counties is situ- 
ated? Not in California or the South where the crop growing 
season is longest, neither is it the much talked of Lancaster 
County in Pennsylvania, nor some of the great Counties of the 
Middle West. It is a County situated at the most extreme 
northeastern boundry of the United States; stuck way up into 
Canada and surrounded on three sides by Canada; where the 
mercury frequently goes as low as forty degrees below zero and 
stays there for days and weeks at a time. A County that is 
almost as large as the whole State of Massachusetts. 

Aroostook County, Maine, is now said to be the richest 
Agricultural County in the United States today. It produces 
between 17,000,000 and 25,000,000 bushels of potatoes a year. 
The great wealth produced by the farmers of Aroostook County 
is simply the result of intelligent farming. 

Though this County has only 14 banks, last May these banks 
held deposits of more than $15,000,000. Fortunes have been 
made by the farmers of Aroostook County, manv farmers having 
sold $40,000, $50,000 and in some cases as high as $100,000 
worth of potatoes as the result of their season's work. 

The farmers of Aroostook County began buying automobiles 
and electric light plants; not the cheap and small automobiles, 
but the kind that range in price from $3000 to $5000 each. One 
manufacturer of automobiles shipped a trainload of 53 box cars 
loaded to the doors with his product to Aroostook County, and 
within two weeks after arrival every automobile in the shipment 
had been sold. Besides buying automobiles the farmers of 
Aroostook County made heavy purchases of farm machinery. 
One single manufacturer of Agricultural Implements sold 60 
carloads of plows, harvesters and tractors there. 



22 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

The Nation's Greatest Asset Must Be 

Conserved 

An Investment for a Definite and Profitable Return : 

The wise and prudent farmer not alone plans to get results 
immediately from his soil, but get the maximum results, as well 
as establishes a permanent soil fertility. The wise farmer knows 
that soils that are not properly handled and fertilized become so 
poor that they will not produce profitable crops. Whether or 
not a soil contains an abundance of the essential plant foods is 
not so important as whether the plant foods are available. If 
they are not the soil containing them is no better than a barren 
soil. No one denies that when an abundance of good fertilizer 
is wisely added to a soil the returns from it are improved. It is 
a simple matter of investment for a definite return to use fertil- 
izers that come back to you in profitable crops. 

Enormous Soil Fertility Depletion: 

A noted professor of economics at the University of Berlin 
aptly brought out to what extent our soil fertility is depleted by 
the following statement: 

"In every million bushels of wheat that we purchase from 
America there are 1,575,000 pounds of phosphorus, nitrogen and 
potash, worth in round t numbers about $267,000, at pre-war 
prices." 

Think what this means to soil fertility depletion on a wheat 
crop of 1,025,801,000 bushels such as we had in 1915. A loss of 
just $274,288,867 on the above basis. Since the nation's greatest 
asset is the soil, we must conserve it, place it on a permanent soil 
fertility basis and keep it there year in and out. We must not 
rob our soils of its wealth producing properties. The soil is a 
better wealth producer than all the mines put together — with 
proper management. So don't rob your own bank by taking out 
and putting nothing in. 

Multiplying Productive Capacity Pays: 

With big profits, industry expands rapidly; with small profits 
it stands still; with no profits it declines. This applies to the 
farmer as well as to the manufacturer. 

In various lines of manufacturing, tremendous profits were 
realized in the past few years. Examination shows that much 
of the greater part of these profits went back into the business, 
thereby increasing capacity, multiplying productive capacity. 
The same method or process of multiplying productive capacity 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 23 

can be applied on the farm. As the farm increases its productive 
capacity, it also decreases its productive capacity in diminishing 
the soil fertility, the crop producing properties. The farmer must 
also put some of his profits back into the business — the soil, so 
that his next crop will produce still further profits. 

The Stimulus of High Prices: 

In normal times every bushel of wheat contained 30 cents 
worth of soil salts; these soil salts, extracted by the growing 
wheat, must be replaced by fertilizers. We dare not, in fact we 
can not afford to, continue to deplete our soil without restora- 
tion. Our wheat growing has mined our soil in a manner that 
no other nation would allow. From a yield of 40 bushels to the 
acre in virgin fields, our average has dropped to 15 bushels from 
the nation and 10 or 12 bushels in worn-out states. The farmer 
must not only restore the soil salts extracted this year, but 
restore those extracted in the last decade, if we are to meet the 
agricultural demands which the world will put upon us. 

The laws of chemistry, of plant growth and of agricultural 
economics are inexorable. To have enough bread to stave off 
famine is the all important first consideration, both for ourselves 
and for the whole world, which will be dependent upon our 
foodstuffs during the next years as never before. During the 
last three years the world has made unprecedented demands 
upon American industries. They met that demand because 
they were allowed the stimulus of high prices. Should not the 
industry of agriculture have an equally great or even greater 
stimulus since in the next two or three years the world's demand 
is going to fall upon our agriculture as never before? For upon 
the industry of farming depends the welfare and existence of all 
industries and mankind. 

A Sound Agricultural Policy Needed 

It is high time the farmer and his interests should have that 
consideration which a progressive age entitles them to. At last 
it seems to be dawning upon this country that the most im- 
portant thing for us at the present time is the creation and pur- 
suit of a sound agricultural policy, a system of encouraging 
farm production. In some way the disorganized farmers must 
organize so they will have that collective strength which 
has come from corporate or associated effort in other fields of 
production. 



24 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

We are in the midst of a worldwide depletion of agricultural 
production, a depletion which cannot be made good within at 
least five years after the close of the war. Between 30,000,000 
and 40,000,000 men have already been withdrawn from agri- 
cultural production and thrown into the war or into business 
connected with the war and not connected with agriculture. 
Millions of those men have been killed, millions more crippled, 
still other millions so disused to agricultural life that they will 
never return to it. 

Take the matter alone of skilled agriculturists who have 
perished. This place cannot be taken by men from other voca- 
tions, even if these men were forced to go to the farm. Farm 
life is exceedingly varied; it requires a strong physique, years of 
training and practice to make a good agriculturist. 

The fields of Europe have for more than three years gone 
almost without fertilizers. The salt of Europe's soil has been 
mined. It will take many years to replace the fields in that old 
state of fertility, even if the usual labor power of tilling them 
were in existence. 

Today, right now, America has an unexampled opportunity 
and an unexampled obligation. If there is not to be a world- 
wide famine, both now and after the war, we must step in and 
prevent it. And we can step in in no better way than to estab- 
lish and pursue an agricultural policy upon which the progress 
of civilization in the next ten years or more will largely depend. 
Progressive civilization is not possible without progressive 
agriculture, and we will not have progressive agriculture unless 
we establish and pursue a sounder agricultural policy than now 
exists or has ever existed. 

Crops Increased Over Two Billion Dollars: 

The U. S. Census Map following page 25 clearly indicates 
the expenditures for fertilizers in 1909. Each dot equals $5,000 
spent for fertilizers. This indicates what a big field of possi- 
bilities exists in our country for an increased consumption of 
fertilizers, and how much a more liberal application of same will 
mean to the future prosperity of our farms and our country. 

The last U. S. Census reports that "in the country as a whole, 
only 28.7 percent of the farms bought fertilizers. Of the total of 
878,798,325 acres, only 478,451,750 acres were improved." 

In ten years the farmers of the United States increased their 
expenditures for fertilizers 115 percent, and in these ten years 
the farmers increased their crops from an aggregate of $2,998,- 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



25 



704,000 to $5,478,161,000, showing an increased crop value of 
$2,488,457,000. The value of all crops for 1917 reached the 
enormous total of $13,580,768,000." 

This increase is not due entirely to the increased use of 
fertilizers, but can it not be well imagined what the increased 
crop value of all farms would be if 100 percent of the farmers, 
instead of only 28.7 percent, used plant-food on their soil and 
crops. 

In the so-called "Cotton States" the greatest increase in the 
use of fertilizers is shown, and here the total value of crops in- 
creased 112.7 percent. 




This neck-high Cotton is concrete evidence that it pays to Fertilize and Fertilize well. V-C 
Fertilizers applied at the rate of 1000 lbs. per acre produced two bales to the acre on this field. 

$1.30 or 4 Cents Worth of Fertilizer to the Acre: 

The compilers of the last United States Census made the 
following discovery concerning the value of plant-food and its 
resultant benefits and profits: 

"The 'worn-out' and 'barren* farms of New England pro- 
duce on an average more corn and wheat to the acre than is 
grown in the famous corn and wheat belt States of the Middle- 
West, as the following proves:" 

New England States used $1.30 worth of fertilizers to the 
acre on its farms. 

Middle- West States used 4 cents' worth of fertilizers to the 
acre on its farms. 



26 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 




Each dot on the above illustration means that $5000 has been SDent for 
Fertilizer. It will be readily seen that as yet the Farmers of the West have 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



27 




not awakened to the worth of Fertilizing their fields. The day will come 
however, when they will get increased yields per acre. 



28 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

New England produced 44 bushels of corn to the acre. 
Middle-West " 29 " " " " - " 

New England produced 23 bushels of wheat to the acre. 
Middle- West " 17 u " u " " " 

Does this not prove conclusively the great value and ad- 
vantage of using plant-food and an abundance of it on soil and 
crops? 

Over $1,700 Net Profit Annually on One Acre for 18 Years: 

It used to be said that no one could support a family on less 
than 100 acres, but some of the European farmers who have 
settled in various parts of the West have known that this is a 
long way from being true. 

A notable example of their intensive methods is that of a 
Belgian, who on a single acre of land in Nevada has for 18 years 
made an average annual net profit of more than $1700, while 
rearing and educating a family of eight children. 

It is a well known fact that the farmers of Belgium use more 
commercial fertilizers per acre than are used in any other part 
of the world. They use an average of 243 pounds of fertilizer per 
acre on all their cultivated lands, not including animal manures. 
In the United States we use only about 31 pounds of fertilizers 
per acre on our cultivated lands. 

Well drained, well cultivated and well fertilized land will 
produce maximum results per acre. The soil and crops need 
good care and good nourishment if the best results are desired. 
What this progressive Belgian farmer has done in Nevada can 
be done elsewhere if the same methods are applied. 

Making the Farm an Efficient and Profitable Workshop : 

Never before has there been such a broad discussion and 
consideration as to our problems of agricultural education as 
now. The children destined for the farm must have in their 
schools a broad training that will give them understanding of the 
scientific principles as well as skill and enthusiasm for the work 
itself. We will then be assured of having less soil robbery and a 
greater and also better production on each acre of tilled land. 
And as our standards rise on the farm, our agriculture will rise 
accordingly, so that for future generations our soil fertility will 
be conserved on a firm and permanent basis. We must cease 
this present agricultural process of mining. We need this new 
education so that the farm may become an efficient and profit- 
able workshop, furnishing a field for skilled and trained labor, 
intelligent management, and the profitable employment of capital. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 29 



A Few Interesting Facts for Farmers 

A Millionaire Farmer's Views: 

The Hon. James M. Smith, a millionaire farmer of Georgia, 
who died only a short time ago, had the following to say with 
reference to the use of fertilizers on farm crops: 

"The use of fertilizers has become one of the most important 
factors in Southern agriculture. It is a powerful agency in pro- 
ducing an increased yield ... a thing we should desire and work 
for. We certainly believe in the use of commercial fertilizers, 
but we also believe in the turning under of vegetable matter 
the growing of legumes and the saving of all barnyard manure. 
The up-to-date farmer will not consider one of these, but all 
four of them, in trying to increase his farm crops." 

Why $140 an Acre Profit When Others Make $1600? 

That intensive farming and liberal fertilization pays well is 
best illustrated by comparing the truck farmers, methods em- 
ployed abroad and in this country. The market gardeners near 
Paris, who supply the city with fresh produce, average in extent 
from one-half to two acres each. There are about 1200 of these 
small truck farms which produce crops valued at $1600 an acre 
each year, whereas the truck farmers on Long Island produce 
$140 an acre. This high yield is obtained by the French gar- 
deners by the wise and liberal use of fertilizers and intensive 
methods of cultivation. However, simply applying fertilizers 
to the soil will not make a good farmer out of a poor one. Fer- 
tilizers will prove effective only in proportion to the amount of 
intelligence the farmer uses with it. He must understand the 
laws of the soil and plant life and the fundamental principles of 
agricultural practice. Then will fertilizers prove most effective. 

Greatest Grin-Producers in the World : 

One of the progressive and prosperous farmers in Indiana has 
discovered the great value of properly applying commercial fer- 
tilizers on his farm. This is what he says: 

"One of the things I do to boost my crops is to fertilize. Crops 
must be fed the same as stock. Fertilizers is what I call my 
"crop insurance." By the judicious use of fertilizers, — in other 
words, by feeding crops according to their needs and handling 
the soil according to its deservings, you will have insurance on 
the greatest grin-producers in the world — bumper crops." 



30 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



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This surely is a grin-producing crop. Errickson and Patten of Freehold, New Jersey, secured 
a yield of 350 bushels of American Giant Potatoes per acre. V-C Fertilizers were applied at 
the rate of 1500 pounds per acre to produce this splendid crop. 

How a 50-Cent an Acre Farm Made Good : 

On a sandy farm in one of the Southern States, which had 
been abandoned by its original owner and sold for fifty cents per 
acre, a little barnyard manure and heavy applications of fer- 
tilizer made another farmer rich. This farmer used $15 worth 
of fertilizer per acre and raised 1,400 pounds of seed cotton per 
acre. This was about a bale per acre on the entire farm. This 
investment in fertilizers and good breaking and cultivation 
netted the thrifty farmer more than $50 per acre when cotton 
was bringing a high price. This farm can not now be bought 
for 50 cents per acre. 

Farmers Must Make Good Profits: 

A prominent manufacturer of fertilizers in the South indi- 
cates the attitude of the manufacturers to the farmers in the 
following expressions: 

"We feel we will help ourselves in helping others. Through 
co-operation can the greatest success in any industry be achieved. 
The fertilizer industry can not succeed unless the farmers who 
consume the fertilizers make good profits from their use. Can 
any one with good sense and judgment imagine that the industry 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 31 

could survive if fertilizers did not yield a profit considerably in 
excess of their cost to the farmers?" 

How Much Is a Billion Dollars? 

We have heard much of late years about billions of bushels 
and billions of dollars. Yet how many of us stop to think what 
a billion really is, it is almost beyond comprehension, for it is 
such a tremendous sum. Prof. Sprague of Harvard University, 
in conversation with Mr. Peter W. Goebel, President of the 
American Bankers' Association, made this very interesting 
remark: 

"If you want to bring the greatness of a billion dollars to the 
attention of the average audience, tell them this: Supposing at 
the birth of Christ, somebody, or some system, had started to 
deposit into the treasury one dollar a minute for every minute 
of the twenty-four hours of the day and continued until today, 
he still would not have quite a billion." 

Multiply this seven times, and you then may form some 
idea as to what a stupendous amount our Government borrowed 
when on April 23, 1917, it authorized the Secretary of the 
Treasury to borrow seven billions of dollars. 

125 Years to Count a Billion Bushels : 

We now think and talk in billions. Some one has figured it 
out that it would take 102 years to count a billion silver dollars 
at the rate that the expert money counters of the United States 
Treasury count money. These expert money counters can 
count 4,000 silver dollars an hour, or 32,000 a day. At this rate 
it would take over 125 years to count the number of bushels of 
wheat of a single year — 1915, which consisted of 1,025,801,000 
bushels, which was the largest wheat crop this country has ever 
known. 

What a good thing it is that the wealth of the United States 
which is now about $240,000,000,000, does not have to be 
counted in silver dollars. At the rate of counting 4,000 dollars 
an hour it would take 24,480 years to count this enormous 
wealth, if it were all in silver dollars. A billion is certainly a 
whole lot. The money value of all the crops produced by the 
farmers of the United States that same year was $6,652,000,000. 
Some business for that one year. Surely the men that produced 
it should be entitled to a good margin of profit on it. 



32 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

How Plants Add to the Wealth of the World: 

The wealth of the world consists of: 

a. Land or Soil. 

b. Products of Mines, Quarries, etc. 

c. Members of the Animal Kingdom. 

d. Members of the Plant Kingdom. 

e. The conversion of crude into finished products by the 

process of manufacture, construction, etc. 

Soil tillage for the production of plants and animals employs 
more people, supplies more of the world's necessities and creates 
more wealth than many other vocations combined. 

The corn crop of 1914 amounted to nearly four billion 
bushels. If this corn had been placed in bags two feet long with 
two bushels in each bag and these bags placed in lines around 
the earth at the equator they would have encircled the earth 
58.5 times. The wheat crop of 1914 placed in two bushel bags 
two feet long would have encircled the earth very nearly 64 
times and the oat crop 22 times. The world annually produces 
more than 1,000 billion pounds of the six most important cereals 
— wheat, corn, oats, rice, rye and barley. This is 500 million 
tons. If these grains were loaded into freight cars of average 
capacity they would encircle the earth at the equator 7.75 times. 
If one crop of potatoes, beans, peas, sugar, fruits and vegetables 
was all loaded into freight cars of average capacity more cars 
would be required than for the six great cereals. If all the cot- 
ton grown in the world in 1914 had been packed into 500 pound 
bales five feet long they would have if placed in line at the 
equator just about reached around the earth, making a line of 
bales 25,000 miles long and the bales touching. If the market 
value of these crops was set down in figures showing the millions 
of dollars of wealth they represent, the human mind could not 
grasp them. No one can fully realize the vast value of the crops 
of the world. Should all crops fail for one year more people 
would die of starvation than have been killed in all the wars of 
a thousand years. The population of the earth is increasing 
annually by millions of souls that must be clothed and fed, and 
the great economic problem of the future will be where with all 
shall the people of the world get their food and raiment. This 
problem must be solved by the farmer and the solution will be 
reached through "How to Make Soil and Crops Pay More." 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 33 

How Plants Supply Food, Clothing, Building 
Material, Medicine, Etc. : 

But few people realize the extent to which plants add to the 
necessities, comforts and pleasures of man. Every part of every 
plant that grows may serve some useful purpose to man. The 
variety of uses to which plants are put and may be put is almost 
inconceivable. They contain every element of nutriment for the 
best sustenance of man or beast and in cheap, palatable, nutritious 
and appropriate forms of food. Root, stem, bark, leaf, flower, 
seed furnish more than three-fourths of the sustenance of man 
and practically all that sustains man's domestic animals. Prac- 
tically all the clothing used by man is either directly of plant 
origin or indirectly, coming from the animals sustained by 
plants. The medicines in their infinite variety and marvelous 
curative power come from plants far more than from all other 
sources. The books and newspapers are made from plants and 
the ink with which they are printed. More than all other things 
do plants contribute to man's necessities. Should plants for one 
short year fail to give their bounty famine would do more the 
following year to destroy civilization than all agencies combined 
for two thousand years have done to establish it. Is it not then 
our duty to minister to these God-given plants that they may 
better serve the purpose God intended them to serve? 

Miles of Roots and Millions of Mouths 

Roots by the Mile : 

It will no doubt be a surprise to many to learn to what extent 
roots of plants grow. The roots of a corn or sunflower plant 
fill a cubic yard of soil with tiny rootlets. The roots produced 
in a season by a wheat plant, if placed end to end, would extend 
a third of a mile. A pumpkin vine may produce 15 miles of 
roots in one season. Alfalfa roots have been known to go down 
into the soil 30 feet. Grapevine roots have been found 22 feet 
below the surface. The total length of all the roots of a water 
plant was found to be about 268 feet, of a rye plant 385 feet, 
and one corn plant had a total length of 1452 feet of roots. And 
if these roots find no plant-food to feed them, what happens to 
the plants? They die of starvation. 

A Few Great Drinkers: 

In more than half the area of the United States there is not 
enough water available in the average season for a maximum 



34 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



yield of crops. In the central part of the United States agri- 
cultural plants, on the average, take about 450 pounds of water 
from the soil for every pound of dry matter produced. By care- 
ful experiment the pounds of water which under ordinary con- 
ditions are drawn from the soil for every pound of dry matter 
manufactured by certain plants has been ascertained to be as 
follows : 



Pounds 

Alfalfa 1068 

Canada Field Peas 800 

Rye 724 

Sweet Clover 709 

Oats 614 



Pounds 

Wheat 507 

Potatoes 488 

Sugar Beets 377 

Corn 369 

Sorghums 306 



Millet 275 

Alfalfa, by reason of its deep rooting habit, feeds through a 
greater area than other plants, and is therefore among the last 
to suffer. The large amount of water used by alfalfa explains 
why crops that follow alfalfa, such as corn, often suffer for lack 
of sufficient moisture. In poor soil plants manufacture little or 
nothing for long periods, although the water passes from their 
bodies all of the time. High fertility, therefore, means more 
rapid production and consequently cheaper farming. Plants 
must be rushed at their work. 

Leaves with Millions of Mouths: 

In the surface layer, or epider- 
mis, of the leaves of plants there 
are many small pores through 
which the water passes to the out- 
side air. These pores are known 
as stomata (stoma, singular, mean- 
ing mouth). The stomata opening 
is surrounded by a pair of surface 
cells, known as guard cells. In dry 
weather the guard cells are usually 
affected so as to close the opening, 
and in damp weather, so as to 
leave it open. The number of 
stomata on the leaves varies on 
an average from about 24,000 
to 180,000 a square inch, although 
there are plants, such as the olive 

Stomata or leaf mouths as seen through a • 1 • 1 jv i_ 

powerful microscope. These stomata are on tree, in WHlCh the number TUnS aS 

the underside of the leaf, and it is through 

these openings that the plant breathes. 




MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 35 

high as 375,000 a square inch, and in rape the enormous number 
of 429,000 a square inch is reached. It is said that an average 
leaf of rape contains as many as 11,000,000 stomata, and that a 
large sunflower leaf has 13,000,000. It is estimated that if all the 
water given off by the plants of a wheat field in the growing sea- 
son could be put back on the land again, it would cover the ground 
to a depth of about four and a half inches, while that given off 
from the plants of a field of oats would cover the ground to a 
depth of five inches. This shows that a wide margin of 
safety exists for a farmer who handles his land so as to 
conserve the water. 

What Agricultural Educators and Experiment 
Stations Have Found 

General Tendency Is to Use Fertilizers in too Small Amounts : 

Prof. Lucius L. Van Slyke of the New York Agricultural 
Experiment Station, in his valuable book entitled l 'Fertilizers 
and Crops," among other facts of interest, points out the value 
of soil fertility and plant-food. We quote in part as follows: 

"The general tendency among not a few farmers is to use 
fertilizers, if they use them at all, in too small amounts. While 
the usual purpose in using fertilizers is to supplement the soil's 
supply of plant-food, there are two points of view in mind: (1) 
helping crops to start, and (2) helping them throughout their 
entire period of growth. 

"An ideal soil for raising good crops should possess qualities 
such as an abundance of plant-food, good physical condition, 
abundance of organic matter and calcium carbonate and good 
drainage. On soils which are more or less deficient in qualities 
characteristic of fertile soils, the use of fertilizers will generally 
be necessary from the start to insure good yield and quality.' ' 

Three Hundred Trillion Cells in One Day: 

"We may regard an ordinary living plant as a chemical 
laboratory or factory, containing immense numbers of small 
rooms, which we call plant-cells, each of which contains every- 
thing essential for its work of production, and in which there is 
at one time or another intense industrial activity. 

"In some cases, one cell divides into two cells every 30 
minutes; that is, passes through its cycle of life from birth to 
reproduction; if such a rate were kept up for 24 hours the one 
cell would multiply into more than three hundred trillions 
(300,000,000,000,000). 



36 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

Great Waste on the Farm : 

"The methods pursued by the American farmer in drawing 
upon the readily available plant-food supplies deposited for 
their use by the accumulations of long ages have been wasteful 
if not yet exhaustive. 

"One-third of the plant-food value of the manure produced 
by the different kinds of farm animals in the United States is 
lost by carelessness, a loss equivalent to $700,000,000 a year." 

"The conditions of soils that are recognized as best suited to 
crop production are the one which best furnish available plant- 
food. 

"The agricultural value of a fertilizer is measured by its 
crop-producing power from the standpoint of the farmer. 

Eight Billion on Pinhead : 

"It is only within recent years that the science of the micro- 
scopic life of the soil has developed. Those tiny forms of life 
are found in great abundance in the soil. Scientists have dis- 
covered that some of the bacteria are so small that 8,000,000,000 
of them could be placed on the head of an ordinary pin." 

What Constitutes Good Farming: 

Director Edward B. Voorhees, of the New Jersey Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station and Professor of Agriculture at 
Rutgers College, clearly points out the value of soil fertility as 
follows : 

The Reliability of Commercial Fertilizers 

"Commercial fertilizers are widely distributed, are easily 
obtained, and can be purchased in any desired amount and at 
any convenient time. There is an advantage in being able to 
obtain the same mixture from year to year, when it best suits 
one's needs, and to feel assured of having the same kinds of 
plant-food materials in the same proportions. Generally speak- 
ing, the same brand of fertilizer, especially in case of the large 
manufacturers, has been found very uniform from year to year. 
It is possible for manufacturers to prepare fertilizers so that they 
are evenly and thoroughly mixed, finely ground, dry, and in 
condition for convenient use. The manufacture of commercial 
fertilizers today is, on the whole, more carefully managed, and 
the products more reliable in uniformity, than at any previous 
time. 

"There is no question of greater importance to the practical 
farmer than that of soil fertility. To produce profitable crops 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 37 

and at the same time to maintain and even increase the produc- 
tive capacity of the soil may rightly be termed 'good farming.' 

"The agricultural value of any of the fertilizer constituents is 
measured by the value of the crop increase which its use may be 
expected to produce. The fertilizer when used in connection 
with a crop possessing a greater market value may prove highly 
profitable, since the monetary return secured from the crop 
increase is much greater than the cost of the fertilizer." 

Profits Within Farmers' Control : 

"The profit from the use of fertilizers is measured to a large 
degree by the perfection of soil conditions which are entirely 
within the power of the farmer to control. The production 
possible from a definite amount of plant-food can be secured 
only when the conditions are such as permit its proper solution, 
distribution, and retention in the soil. 

"It should be the aim in the use of commercial fertilizers to 
supplement the plant-food derived from the soil itself in such 
a manner as to make possible the most profitable returns. Farm- 
ing will thus be more successful, because profitable crops are 
secured, while fertility of the soil is at the same time increased. 

"Commercial fertilizers are mainly valuable because they 
furnish the elements — nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash — 
which serve as food, not as stimulants. A definite system or 
plan should be adopted in the use of fertilizers; 'hit or miss' 
methods are seldom satisfactory, and frequently very expensive." 

Fertile Soil and Bumper Crops for 4200 Years: 

The late Prof. F. H. King, D. Sc, formerly Professor of 
Agricultural Physics at the University of Wisconsin, and Chief 
of Division of Soil Management U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, in 
his interesting history of " Farmers of Forty Centuries," points 
out how the farmers of the Orient have successfully applied 
plant-foods, good tillage and crop rotation to their intensive 
methods of farming. 

Prof. King relates how for hundreds of centuries these 
Oriental soils have been tilled to the limit and produced ex- 
ceptional crops. For 4200 years the fertility of these soils has 
not decreased but increased, and today are producing crops four 
and five times as much as we produce on our own soils here in 
the United States. These Oriental farmers never "mine" their 
soils, but year after year see to it that the fertility of the soil is 
regularly maintained and increased, not robbed as is done so 
much in this country. 



38 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



Feeding Apple Trees Pays: 

Some interesting experiments were conducted by the Massa- 
chusetts Experiment Station in determining the value of fer- 
tilizers on an apple orchard. The cost of fertilizers was about 
$12.00 per acre per annum. Between the trees hay was grown 
for four years which was worth $270, which in itself more than 
paid for the cost of fertilizer. The total yield of these trees for 
20 years was as follows : 

Barrels per Acre 
Fertilized Unfertilized 

Gravenstein 267 . 5 89 . 2 

Baldwin 819.1 50.4 

Russets 566.2 114.4 

Greenings 341.3 96.9 



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Fertilizer Results on an Ohio Orchard. The two rows of 12 trees each are of the same variety, 
received the same treatment in mulching and spraying, yet note the difference in the yield. 
The row on the left was fertilized and yielded 30 barrels. The row on the right, unfertilized, 
produced 3 barrels of apples. The difference of 27 barrels of apples was due to Fertilizer 
which was applied at the rate of 10 pounds per tree. 

Increased Yields Per Acre Did It: 

Dean Homer C. Price, College of Agriculture, Ohio State 
University, Columbus, writing on "Increasing the Food Supply 
of the Nation," as published in the Scientific American, says: 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 39 

"A nation's food supply may be increased either by increasing 
the area cultivated or by increasing the yield per acre. In 
America we have been using the former method, and in Germany 
the latter method has been used. Within twenty years the cul- 
tivated area of grain in Germany has not increased over 5 per- 
cent, but within this time the total product has increased over 
60 percent, due to the increased yield per acre. This increase 
has been due to the application of science to the practice of 
agriculture, and has resulted from a better cultivation and 
handling of the soil, from the more abundant and intelligent use 
of stable manures and commercial fertilizers, and from the se- 
lection and breeding of more productive varieties of crops." 

Two Interesting Comparisons : 

It will be of interest to compare the increase of five principal 
crops in the United States with Germany's increase. Official 
records for 20 years in Germany and 18 years in the U. S. show 
the following: 

Increase in Yield in Five Crops of Germany in 20 years, 
and Same in U. S. in 18 Years: 

Germany United States 

Wheat 47 . 8% increase 15 . 7% increase 

Rye 70.0% " 29.2% " 

Oats 68.6% " 13.3% " 

Barley 51.8% " 8.8% " 

Potatoes 71.6% " 32.3% " 

Commenting on this showing Dean Price further says: "The 
German is more careful in the selection of his seed, and his stand 
of the crop on the ground is more perfect. He has also learned 
how to feed his crops with fertilizers." 

Why Home Mixing Is Not Best: 

In Bulletin No. 167 of the Texas Agricultural Experiment 
Station is clearly pointed out the advantage of having fertilizers 
well mixed, and why the manufacturer of fertilizers can do this 
best. We quote as follows: 

"The fertilizer manufacturer has the advantage of purchasing 
his materials in large quantities at wholesale prices. He also 
has the advantage of possessing the necessary machinery and 
appliances for mixing at a lower cost per ton than the home 
mixer." 



40 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

Indiana Farmers Found It Profitable : 

Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station in its 
Circular No. 49 emphatically points out to what extent com- 
mercial fertilizers have helped the Indiana farmers in increasing 
their crops and profits. We quote as follows: 

"At the present time there is no Agricultural subject in 
which there is more general interest than that of soil fertility. 
The farmers of Indiana have found it profitable to spend $3,- 
400,000 a year for commercial plant-foods among the 215,485 
farms. 

$5.00 Worth of Commercial Fertilizer Gave Greater Increase 
Than Ten Tons of Manure 

"One application of 207 pounds of muriate of potash to the 
acre on muck soil gave an increase of 82 bushels of corn in four 
years, while an application of 10 tons of barnyard manure to the 
acre only increased the yield 51 bushels during the same period. 
In this experiment an application of potash costing $5.00 gave 
a greater increase in crop than an application of 10 tons of 
manure. Contrary to the general opinion, farm manures are not 
well balanced fertilizers for most soils." 

Indiana Shows 187 Percent Increase : 

In Bulletin No. 174 of the Purdue University Agricultural 
Experiment Station, we learn to what extent the Indiana farmers 
have increased the use'of commercial fertilizers on their soil and 
crops in recent years, as follows: 

"Total amount of fertilizers sold in Indiana in 1913 was 
193,899 tons, having a retail value of $4,516,404.81. The sale 
in the spring amounted to 84,769 tons, valued at $2,068,649.13, 
and in the fall of 109,130 tons valued at $2,447,755.68. Com- 
pared with the 67,672 tons sold in 1904, ten years previous, 
shows an increase of 126,277 tons, equivalent to 187 per cent." 

What 30 Years' Experiments Proved : 

The Pennsylvania State College of Agriculture has made 
some very interesting and conclusive experiments on various 
crops with the use of fertilizers. After 30 years of experiments 
it found that the judicious use of fertilizers increased the yield 
per acre on four crops as follows : 

Wheat made a gain of 74 percent in yield per acre. 
Hay " " " " 54 " " " " " 

Corn " " " " 36 " " " " " 
Oats " " " "31 " " " " u 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



41 



Fertilized Wheat 94 Percent Plump, Unfertilized Wheat 51 
Percent Plump: 

The Ohio Experiment Station made some interesting experi- 
ments on wheat. It reports that where the wheat was grown on 
soil which was not fertilized, the sample of grain showed 49 
percent shriveled wheat and 51 percent plumb wheat. Whereas, 
the wheat which received a judicious amount of the correct 
plant-food, the sample of grain analyzed 6 percent shriveled and 
94 percent plump. Is this not conclusive evidence as to the 
value of proper fertilization? 

The Value of a Knowledge of Farm Manage- 
ment Principles: 

Many American farmers are getting 
less from their labor than they are entitled 
to because they fail to recognize certain 
fundamental principles which underlie suc- 
cessful farm management. 

One of the important lessons we have 
learned from the science of farm manage- 
ment is that the great majority of Ameri- 
can farmers must make their living from 
the production of ordinary field crops and 
standard live stock products. It has also 
taught us that in order that the farmer 
may be duly rewarded for his time and 
energy he must work a considerable acreage 
of land. The ideal American farm is of a 
size that will give the average farm family 
an opportunity to utilize their full earning 
power at all seasons of the year. 

One of the worst faults of American 
farming, and particularly of farming in the 
cotton belt, is the fact that the system followed leaves much of 
the year either wholly idle or poorly occupied. A man's time is not 
worth a great deal when he is following one six-hundred-pound 
mule down a cotton row. The cotton farmer should at least 
produce on his own farm all the feed and food needed by those 
who live on the farm, and where there is a good local market for 
food and feed products it is a good plan to produce a surplus of 
these for sale. 




Dr. W. J. Spillman, 

Chief of the Office of Farm 

Management. 



42 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



Another very important lesson which the science of farm 
management has taught us is that yield per acre is one of the 
largest factors in the farmer's profits. A farmer whose yields are 
low can add more to his income by giving attention to building up 
soil fertility than he can in any other way. 

Another important fact developed in farm management 
studies is that farm land, because of the remarkable security it 
offers as an investment, is usually held at a price that causes the 
income from it to represent a very low percentage of its value. 
On the other hand, when money is invested in work stock, 
implements and the like, it brings a very high rate of income 
under average conditions. It is not uncommon for landlords to 
obtain an income of 4 percent or less on their real estate while 
their tenants make an income of 15 percent to 30 percent on 
their working capital. 

The important lesson from this is that the young man starting 
out with very small capital can make more as a tenant on a 
farm of considerable size than he can as an owner on a small 
patch of land. Yet the advantages of ownership are so great 
that just as soon as the tenant is able to save enough to make a 
first payment on a good sized farm it is important that he be- 
come an owner. 

2,000 Boys Produce Over 200,000 Bushels 
' of Corn: 

One of the most revolutionary and 
evolutionary pieces of work ever accom- 
plished in the United States is that which 
was done through the Boys' Corn Clubs. 
This work was organized some years ago by 
the late Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, and Dr. 
Knapp's conception of the work marked a 
new era in crop production in the South. 
Dr. Knapp's idea was to Make Soil and 
Crops Pay More, and to have boys demon- 
strate how this could be done. How well 
the demonstrations were carried out is 
shown by the records of more than 25 boys 
who produced more than 200 bushels of 
corn per acre and more than 2,000 boys who 
have produced more than 100 bushels of 
corn per acre, 
average yield of corn (U. S. Census) in the 
fifteen Southern States was 20.91 bushels per acre. In the same 




Dr. Seaman A. Knapp 
Late head of the Boy's Club movement 
of the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

In 1916 the 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



43 



year the average yield per acre by all of the several thousand 
members of the Boys' Corn Clubs was 46.94 bushels per acre, 
26.03 bushels per acre in favor of the boys. The average yields 
per acre by the Boys' Corn Club members was 124 per cent 
more than the average yield of all the 15 Southern States. 
The boys acres averaged five bushels more than twice as much 
as the average per acre for the 15 Southern States. If the men 
farmers of the South follow the lead of the Boy's Corn Club 
members the South will more than double its yield of corn. 

By following scientific instructions the Corn Club Boys in 
fifteen states have shown that the yield of corn may be more 
than doubled by giving timely attention to good soil prepara- 
tion, good seed, appropriate feeding and frequent shallow 
cultivation. Had the farmers in these states done as well as 
the boys the total yield of corn in 1917 would have been about 
2,000,000,000 bushels instead of a little over 900,000,000 
bushels. 





Average Yield in 
Bushels in 1916 


Total Annual Production 
in Bushels 


State 


By Boys' 
Corn Club 


By Whole 

State 


1909 


1917 


Alabama 

Arkansas 

Florida 

Georgia 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maryland 

Mississippi 

North Carolina . . 

Oklahoma 

South Carolina. . 

Texas 

Virginia 

West Virginia 


36.25 
37.02 
42.00 
41.60 
65.10 
46.00 
62.10 
42.47 
54.80 
35.87 
42.60 
51.57 
36.60 
54.09 
56.10 


12.00 
17.70 
15.00 
15.50 
28.00 
21.00 
39.00 
14.00 
18.50 
13.50 
15.50 
26.00 
19.00 
28.00 
30.50 


30,696,000 
37,610,000 
7,024,000 
39,375,000 
83,348,000 
26,010,000 
17,924,000 
28,429,000' * 
34,063jd00\ 
94,283,000 
20,872,000 
67,682,000 
75,499,000 
38,295,000 
17,119,000 


77,200,000 
67,200,000 
13,875,000 
72,000,000 

122,850,000 
42,246,000 
28,080,000 
84,050,000 
60,000,000 
33,150,000 
43,947,000 

111,150,000 
77,825,000 
72,275,000 
25,020,000 




46.94 


20.91 


618,229,000 


930,868,000 



Boys' Average 46.94 bushels per acre. 

15 Southern States Average 20.91 bushels per acre. 

Increase by Boys 26.03 bushels per acre. 

The above states produced 312,639,000 bushels more corn 
in 1917 than in 1909. 



44 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 




The Business of Farming a Banking 
Proposition 

It is a well known fact that no matter 
what crops may be grown, every crop con- 
sumes plant-food from the soil, and this 
plant-food supply is no more inexhaustible 
than your bank account. Every pros- 
perous and successful farmer has learned 
this great truth and fundamental principle. 

The reliability and strength of a bank 
is measured by its deposits and invest- 
ments, as well as good management. In 
this respect a farm is like a bank, for it too 
must have good management, and when 
the farmer realizes that his land is meas- 
ured by the reliability and quality of its 
deposits — available plant-food properly ap- 
plied, he will awaken to the fact that his 
soil and crops are as much a money-making 
factor as a bank, if not more so, for is it not 
true that if the farmer stopped producing 
crops the banks would have to close and go out of business? 

Hence the farmer can make his business more prosperous by 
making his soil and crops pay more; by making his land and what 
it produces more productive; by increasing and improving his 
yields per acre; and by making his soil permanently fertile. If 
he does that he will have the best bank account he could possibly 
possess. 

We will now let a few prominent and successful bankers 
give us their views on the relationship between banking and 
farming, and the necessity of soil and crop improvement. Every 
farmer will be interested in the answer Mr. Oliver J. Sands, 
President of the American National Bank of Richmond, Va., 
gives to the question : 

Why Are Your Soil and Crops Like a Bank Account? 

''Because both will be useless if not properly fed. The 
bank account is an ever present help in time of need, but it must 
be constantly nourished by deposits of cash to replace that 
which has been withdrawn, and the greater deposits the greater 
the bank account. 



Mr. Oliver J. Sands, 

President of the American National 

Bank, Richmond, Va. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



45 



"Just so with your soil. You can not continue to draw on 
it forever without depleting it of those qualities which are 
necessary for it to have if it is to meet the demands which you 
have a right to expect of it. 

"Again the bank account grows from the intelligent use of 
money, the practicing of well recognized rules of thrift in the 
handling of one's affairs. So it is with the intelligent use of 
proper methods in building up the soil, for when properly fed it 
will yield greater returns and its value will increase. 

"The soil is the basis of all wealth, for when it is made to 
yield a proper return all business prospers." 

"Soil and Crop Improvement Are More 
Important to the People of the United 
States Than Our Gold Production" 

The above statement was made by the 
representative of the largest banking in- 
stitution of the United States, Mr. F. C. 
Schwedtmann of the National City Bank 
of New York City, in his address before 
the National Fertilizer Association at Hot 
Springs, Va., July 10th, 1916. The fol- 
lowing extracts from this able address can 
not help but be of interest and value to all 
the farmers and bankers of this land: 

"To double the crops of the United 
States would add tremendously to the 
wealth and contentment of our people. 
There is a possibility of not only doubling 
them, but quadrupling them. Secretary 
Houston states that only 40 percent of the 
tillable land of the United States is under 
cultivation, and this 40 percent is not 
bringing the return it should. The average 
yield per acre of wheat in this country was 15J^ bushels for 1912 
and 1913, as compared with 34 bushels in Great Britain and 3£ 
bushels in Germany. During the same period potatoes yielded 
100 bushels to the acre in the United States as compared' with 
235 to 500 bushels in Germany. Other crops follow more or less 
the ratio of these two. Increasing the yield 100 percent per acre 
would still leave us considerably below the best performance of 




Mr. F. C. Schwedtmann, National 
City Bank, New York City 



46 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

European soils — some of which have been cultivated intensively 
for centuries without signs of exhaustion. 

"The money value of all the crops for the United States in 
1915 was $6,652,000,000. Doubling the tillable soil and doubling 
the yield per acre would bring this value to $26,608,000,000 
annually. The value of the gold production in the United States 
during 1915 was approximately $99,000,000, and of the whole 
world for 1914 approximately $456,000,000. Compare these 
figures and you will find that the value of our crops is about 67 
times the value of our annual gold production and about 15 
times the value of the gold production of the whole world, and 
that by proper effort we can increase the crop value to 260 times 
the value of our own gold production and 60 times the value of 
the gold production of the whole world. It is evident, therefore, 
that soil and crop improvement are far more important to the people 
of the United States than our gold production. 

"There are indications of crop improvement in our country. 
The average yield of wheat per acre has been increased from 13^ 
to 15J^ bushels, or 20 percent in ten years, but during the same 
period wheat production in Germany has increased from 24^ 
bushels per acre to 35, or 39 percent. 

"We have much to learn in the rotation of crops and in the 
proper chemical preparation of the soil — this, too, in spite of the 
excellent work of education and demonstration carried on by 
you and the various experimental stations. The study of the 
chemistry of the soil which you gentlemen have adopted as your 
profession is, in my opinion, destined to become one of the most 
important callings of the day and age. 

"The census figures of the fertilizer industry in the United 
States show the value of the products of all the fertilizer manu- 
facturing establishments of the United States for which figures 
are available from 1870 down to date. The total value of the 
output recorded by the census of: 

1870 was $ 5,851,118, 
1880 was 23,650,795, 
1890 was 39,080,844, 
1900 was 44,657,385, 
1910 was 111,871,481, 
1915 was 168,388,405 (approximately). 

This very rapid increase in production, especially in recent 
years, demonstrates the increasing recognition by the farmers 
of the United States of the need of a proper care of our soils. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



47 



The total output of this line of manufacture increased over 130 
percent in the decade of 1900-1910, while the value of all manu- 
facturers in that period increased only about 80 percent. 

"There is a particular reason why governmental departments, 
State and Federal, should give a helping hand to the further 
upbuilding of this industry; for the increase of foodstuffs in the 
United States is not keeping step, by a long way, with the in- 
crease in population. Those countries have succeeded best in 
the intense cultivation of the soil, in which Government, manu- 
facturers and bankers have worked in constructive harmonious 
co-operation with the agriculturists and with each other." 

$1,000 for Fertilizers But NOT for a Barn 

Few men understand the relationship 
between banker and farmer better than 
Mr. William Ingle, who when Chairman of 
the Board, Federal Reserve Bank of Rich- 
mond, Va., said: 

"The farmer, or rather his labor, is the 
source of the greater part of our wealth. 
Nearest related after the land itself, possi- 
bly, is the fertilizer manufacturer. 

"With the passage by Congress of ef- 
fective Rural Credit laws, the farmers will 
have at their command an agency which 
in its use will permit them as readily to 
finance their essential operations as mer- 
chants are now able to do with comfort in 
availing themselves, through their banks, 
of the provisions of the Reserve Act. 

"The farmer is essentially a manu- 
facturer, but one who, as commonly is the 
case, in having practically all of his assets 
tied up in his land is without the means to purchase his fer- 
tilizers and other supplies on a cash basis. Carrying costs under 
the old system, that is, the difference between a spot cash price 
and the figure actually paid in settlement of supply bills at the 
end of the season, is probably as much as 20 percent of the cash 
price of the material used. If this could be saved to the farmer, 
he could afford either to be more liberal to his land under treat- 
ment or to add to his acreage. 

"We can not lend the farmer a dollar on paper made to 
build a barn, but we can lend him $1,000 with which to pay his 
fertilizer bill. * 




Mr. William Inerle, 

President Baltimore Trust Co., 

Baltimore, Md. 



48 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



"We must have the assurance when we take a farmer's note, 
the banker must tell us in effect, that that loan is not made to 
build a barn, but to pay a fertilizer bill." 

Is this not ample proof to what extent the bankers value 
fertilizers? There is safety and security in fertilizers, and the 
banker will help the farmer who needs money for fertilizers, so 
his soil and crops will pay more. 

The Banker and the Farmer 

By Mr.John K. Ottley— Vice President 
Fourth National Bank, Atlanta, Ga. : 

"The soil is the basis of all wealth. 
Therefore the relation between the farmer, 
whose business is handling the soil, and 
the banker, whose business is handling the 
money, is vitally important. 

"The farmer who is not making a profit 
is not a good credit risk. The farmer who 
is operating on diminishing crops and too 
high costs is in the hazardous class so far 
as credit goes. When the farmer prospers, 
everybody else prospers with him. What- 
ever affects him unfavorably is bad for 
general business. 

"Two elements enter into the question 
of the farmer's profits, viz. : 

(a) The cost of crop production. 

(b) The yield per acre. 

Yield per acre is the factor that con- 
trols the cost per unit of every crop the farmer plants. The 
greater the yield per acre, the smaller the cost per pound or per 
bushel of producing the crop. Profits depend upon the amount 
of money received for the crop over and above its cost to pro- 
duce and to market. This is elementary to the economist, but 
it is the ABC that the farmer needs to learn by heart. 

"The farmer's big task, then, is to make the land yield him 
the very utmost that it is capable of yielding. 

"This brings us to our much-admired, but little-practiced, 
theory of cultivation. I regret to say that it is little practiced; 
but the figures show that notwithstanding all the eloquence that 
has been expended on the subject, the true meaning and import 
of intensive cultivation has not yet dawned upon large sections 
of our agricultural territory. 




Mr. John K. Ottley, 

Vice-President Fourth National 

Bank, Atlanta, Ga. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 49 

"The human machine must be 'fed up' with its proper nu- 
trients. Body proteins and minerals and carbohydrates and 
fats require severally their fuel of like elements to maintain 
health, to build tissue, muscle, bone and brawn. Precisely so, 
to repair the waste, must the land be supplied with the restora- 
tive and nutritive elements that will keep it in condition and 
up to standard. The most efficient body is the best-nourished, 
that is to say, the most scientifically nourished body. If the 
soil is to yield the best of which it is capable, it too must be 
supplied with such food as will challenge it to its utmost per- 
formance. Research in the laboratories of the chemist has re- 
vealed the secrets of this food. We have men today who can 
tell us what elements must be supplied to certain soils to make 
them do certain things. The government, the colleges, the banks 
are endeavoring to connect the farmer with these golden secrets. 
Here and there, he is waking to the magical possibilities of his 
business. Fertilizer experts are demonstrating the value of in- 
tensively cultivated and well-fed land. Figures that are pitiless 
in their statements of facts show an amazing total of money that 
might be saved this country if our farmers were alive to the 
necessity of getting out of their land all that it ought to yield. 
I am tempted to cite one example : 

"The average potato crop of the United States for the seasons 
of 1910, 1911, 1912, was 367,526,000 bushels, grown on 3,666,285 
acres. At the German average yield of 220 bushels per acre this 
crop would have been produced on 1,670,574 acres. The average 
cost of production for the United States, exclusive of the cost 
of fertilizers, was $25.75 per acre. Multiplying the difference in 
acreage, of 1,995,711 acres, by $25.75, we arrive at $51,389,558, 
which the American farmer might have saved had he used the 
intensive method of the German farmer. On potatoes, wheat 
and oats, the total saving would have been $504,143,833, which 
at an average price of $25.00 a ton would have bought 20,165,753 
tons of fertilizers — a heavy application to equal German results 
— and still leave a splendid profit to the American farmer. 

"The best thing the banker can do for the farmer, as I see it, 
is to encourage him in every possible manner to get most out of 
his land and thus to depress the cost of production so that profits 
may be greater and credit correspondingly stronger." 

When the farmer gets it into his mind that his calling demands 
the admixture of real business methods with the usual processes 
of his specialty, then he will begin to take his place among the 
independent producers of the world's wealth. But so long as he 



50 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE __ 

clings to the tradition that the earth will yield her increase 
without any particular encouragement on his part beyond the 
old-time plowing and planting and cultivating methods, he is 
losing potential riches for himself and for his Nation. 

The Greatness of Our Country and Its 
Farming Industry 

When we realize that the United States covers considerably 
less that one-sixth of the earth's surface, and contains only about 
five percent of the earth's population, the following will give us 
some idea of the greatness of our own country. 

The value of our principal farm crops in 1917 reached the 
enormous total of thirteen and one-half billions of dollars, exceed- 
ing by almost four and a half billions of dollars the value of the 
1916 crop, which was the previous banner value year in the crop 
history of the country. 

Corn: In the Department of Agriculture's December, 1917, 
Crop Report it bases value on December prices on corn as 
follows: 

Production of 3,159,494,000 bushels is worth $4,053,672,000, 
the largest and most valuable crop ever grown in this country. 
It exceeded the crop of 1916, which was the largest previous 
value crop by more than $1,700,000,000. In only one other year 
has the corn crop been over 3,000,000,000 bushels, and that in 
1912, when it was 3,124,746,000 bushels. 

It is interesting and no doubt valuable for the farmers to 
know that the corn crop was especially short and of poor quality 
in the area including Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and 
North Dakota, where the farmers have not as yet learned to 
know the necessity and great value of plant-food, as the Southern 
farmers have long ago learned and profited by. On the other 
hand, in the Southern States, where fertilizers are used exten- 
sively, the corn crop showed an increase. 

Wheat: The 1917 wheat crop was also a record-breaker and 
was valued at $1,307,418,000, which is $287,450,000 more than 
the 1916 crop. 

Oats: Another bumper crop in both production and value, 
representing 1,587,286,000 bushels, over 300,000,000 bushels 
better than 1916. Its value is estimated at $1,061,427,000, or 
$400,000,000 more than the 1916 crop, which was the former 
record value crop. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 51 

Other crops such as potatoes, tobacco, rye, buckwheat, rice, 
hay, cotton and barley were also record crops. 

The approximate value of the principal crops in 1917, accord- 
ing to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, follow in the order 
of their respective value: 

Corn $4,053,672,000 Apples .$ 213,057,000 

Cotton 1,517,558,000 Kafirs 121,842,000 

Hay 1,359,491,000 Peanuts 105,950,000 

Wheat 1,307,481,000 Beans 102,426,000 

Oats 1,061,427,000 Rye 100,025,000 

Potatoes 543,865,000 Sweet Potatoes 96,121,000 

Tobacco 297,442,000 Rice 68,717,000 

Barley 237.539,000 Peaches 61,245,000 

The following table will give you a good idea as to how the 
American farmer is doing his bit toward feeding the world. The 
figures in the first two columns represent the 1917 and 1916 
acreage. The third and last columns show the 1917 and 1916 
production respectively. The figures are those of the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture as published in December, 1917. 

ACREAGE PRODUCTION 

CROP 1917 1916 1917 1916 

Corn, bus 119,755,000 105,296,000 3,159,494,000 2,566,927,000 

Wheat, bus 45,941,000 52,316,000 650,828,000 636,318,000 

Oats, bus 43,572,000 41,527,000 1,251,837,000 1,251,837,000 

Barley, bus 8,835,000 7,757,000 208,975,000 182,309,000 

Rye, bus 4,102,000 3,213,000 60,145,000 48,862,000 

Buckwheat, bus 1,006,000 828,000 17,460,000 11,662,000 

Rice, bus 964,100 869,000 36,278,000 40,861,000 

Potatoes (Round), bus. 4,390,000 3,565,000 442,536,000 286,953,000 

Potatoes (Sweet), bus. 953,000 774,000 87,141,000 70,955,000 

Hay (Tame), tons... . 53,516,000 55,721,000 79,528,000 91,192,000 

Tobacco, lbs 1,446,600 1,413,400 1,196,451,000 1,153,278,000 

Cotton, bales 33,634,000 34,985,000 10,949,000 11,449,930 

Beans (6 States), bus. 1,832,000 1,107,000 15,701,000 10,715,000 

Peanuts, lbs 2,084,400 1,076,350 60,222,000 35,324,500 

Apples, lbs 58,203,000 68,194,000 

Peaches, boxes 45,066,000 37,505,000 

With such crop production is it any wonder that America 
today contains more than a third of all the wealth in the world? 
Yet how much greater will be our wealth when the farmers of 
our country learn the real value of applying an abundance of 
plant food on their soils and crops and to what extent permanent 
Soil Fertility will aid in increasing prosperity on their millions 
of acres of cultivated lands. And not until the farmers of 
America realize this will our prosperity be as great as it might be. 



Making Soil and Crops Pay More 

'' Part Two 

Questions & Answers 

Which Will Help Every 
Farmer to Make His Soil 
and Crops Pay More 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 55 

Answers to Questions Which Will Help 

Every Farmer Make His Soil 

and Crops Pay More 

Question: WHAT ARE PLANTS? 

Answer: Because plants are not noisy as animals are, few 
people realize that plants are living things, full of life. Plants 
do not roam about like animals do nor shout or bellow on the 
fields as animals do, but, nevertheless, they eat, sleep, drink, 
breathe and breed, and do other things that we are accustomed 
to associate with animals. 

Plants are organized structures, the more common forms of 
which have roots, root hairs, root bark; stem, branches and bark; 
leaves, blossoms and seeds (fruit). A plant belonging to the 
lower forms may consist of but one cell, but higher forms are 
composed of billions of cells. Plant cells vary in size and shape 
and contain protoplasm, a substance which may be said to be 
the " physical basis of life." It is through these cells and through 
the cell walls that plant-food enters and passes to the various 
parts of the plant aided by protoplasmic functions. 

Question: HOW DO PLANTS LIVE? 

Answer: Because plants are alive they must have food, air 
and water, and the right place to grow in. Under-feeding or 
improper feeding is as harmful to plants as it is to animals or 
human beings. A robust, healthy, vigorous plant needs nour- 
ishing food and plenty of it, also good water and good light and 
air. If you doubt this, take any plant, place it in a dark, poorly 
ventilated room without nourishment and sunshine, and it 
will not live under such conditions any more than you would, 
or your dog, horse or cow. 

Then too, plants are really more particular what they eat 
than most people or animals are. We know that an animal is 
alive when we see it breathe, eat, grow and move. Just so with 
plants, for they too breathe, eat, grow and move. The plant 
is never a lazy worker, for it works in all its parts, the roots, the 
stem and the leaves. 

Since plants, unlike animals, are usually fixed and rooted in 
one spot, it is impossible for them to go in search of food, hence 
the food must be brought to them where they can readily assimi- 



56 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

late it and nourish themselves. The roots of plants immediately 
start to fix themselves in the soil for the purpose of obtaining 
nourishment to enable them to grow abundantly, and when 
these roots fail to find the necessary food they simply die for 
lack of proper nourishment, for they can not roam about like 
animals can and forage for food. 

Question: HOW DO PLANTS REPRODUCE? 

Answer: The means by which plants naturally reproduce their 
kinds are seeds, spores, tubers, roots, bulbs, corms, root-stocks, 
stolons, suckers, etc. Nature provides means for the perpetuation 
of all species of plants, and many of them vary very widely. The 
most common means of reproduction is by seeds. Many plants, 
however, will not reproduce their kinds by seeds and Nature 
has provided other means for their increase, and man has be- 
come expert in the employment of various natural and artificial 
means of the different kinds best adapted to the multiplication 
of our many crops. Thus corn, wheat, cotton and tobacco are 
grown from seeds; grapes from cuttings or layers; Irish potatoes 
from tubers; sweet potatoes from roots; apples from grafts; 
peaches from buds; strawberries from runners; and mushrooms 
from spores. Many of our crops do not come true from seeds. 
Seeds develop from the exercise of sexual functions, and crossing 
or hybridization is very common with many of our crops. If 
pollen, which is the male part of plants, fertilizes the pistil or 
female part of another kind of plant, the resulting seeds will be 
crossed and many of them will produce plants different from 
either parent. Hence, no matter how a plant is brought to life 
or in what form it is placed in the soil, all plants need plant-food 
— nourishment. 

Question: HOW DO SEEDS GERMINATE? 
Answer: Seeds are living things which have the power of 
reproducing the plants from which they came. Stored in each 
seed are the inherited potentialities which enable them to 
become links connecting thousands upon thousands of genera- 
tions of plants created so that the earth may be made fit for man. 
That seeds may germinate they must have moisture, heat 
and air in appropriate supplies. Water is absorbed, the seed 
swells, starch and fat become soluble, sugar is formed, new 
tissues and cells are formed, and the rootlets push through the 
seed coat and start downward into the soil ; the stem and leaves 
start upward to air and sunlight, and a new plant has sprung into 
being. Enough food is stored in the seeds to support the young 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



57 




plant until its leaves feed from the air, 
and its rcots feed from the soil. Some 
seeds will germinate at a temperature a 
few degrees above freezing, while others 
require 60 or more degrees Fahrenheit, 
Eighty degrees is about the temperature 
most favorable for the germination of 
most seeds. The oxygen of the air is 
necessary for the germination of all seeds. 
A well prepared seed-bed gives the best 
conditions for germination by aiding in 
securing the right quantity of air and water 
and the desired degree of temperature. 

Question: HOW DO PLANTS GROW? These young corn plants must push 

. „ their way through the soil to the air and 

Answer: The first Sign 01 life a plant Will sunlight and the roots must multiply 

i v ;i i i i and spread in all directions seeking 

make When the Seed SprOUtS IS tO Spread nourishment. That the plant may best 

its roots into the soil and starts downward & 1 ^^fflt ta h£bJWSi! 

for its Store-house Of food Supply; then A well prepared seed bed insures prompt 

comes the stalk and leaf part which starts f^^the 1 son? capacity tolSding 

Upward towards light and air, for it must water and fives the growing crop easy 
c i-i'i it • tit- access to the plant food in the sou. 

eat and drink and breathe just as all living 

things do. 

Plants grow by forming new cells. Plant cells of various 

sizes and shape make up the structure of all plants. New cells 

are formed by division 
of older ones, and by the 
plant extending its stem, 
branches, leaves and roots, 
the plant grows. To do 
this it must be supplied 
with food, water and air. 
The food must contain the 
material of which the plant 
is made, and in quantities 
and proportions in which 
they are to be used by the 
plant. The carbon, hydro- 
gen, oxygen, nitrogen, sul- 
phur, phosphorus, potas- 
sium, calcium, magnesium 
and iron which are found 
in all plants must be in the 

Photo. Micrograph of cell structure of Potato Vine, greatly en- 
larged. The various cell shapes and forms can be clearly seen. 




58 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



right forms or combinations for the plant, and must be where 
the plant can get them or it will not grow. All of them must 
be present and usable, since the absence of any one of them 
will prevent the plant from growing, and the smallest quantity 
available of any one of these elements will be a controlling 
factor in the growth of the plant. When the plants in a field 
or in a part of a field are not growing well, either the conditions 
and materials necessary to good growth are not supplied or the 
materials are not in suitable form. 



Oxygen 



arbon dioxide 



Question: WHAT MUST A PLANT HAVE IN ORDER TO 
LIVE? 

Answer: That plants may live they must have: 

Temperature that is neither too high nor too low, and changes 
of temperatures that are sudden seriously interfere with their 
growth. Some plants thrive best in low and some in high tem- 
peratures. 

Water, which by weight com- 7he Atmosphere 

poses the bulk of all growing plants, 
must be constantly and abundantly 
supplied while plants are growing. 
Either too little or too much water 
is disastrous to nearly all economic 
plants, though many of them by 
nature grow in water. Drainage 
and irrigation are the means em- 
ployed by the farmer to get rid of 
excess of water and to secure the 
proper supply when there is a 
deficiency. 

Food builds the plant. Plant- 
food is taken from both the air 
and the soil, entering the leaves 
from the air and the roots from the 
soil. The food which comes from 
the soil must be in solution or dis- 
solved in water before the plant 
can take it up. Water is the 
vehicle which conveys the soil-food 
into the plant and is the distribu- 
ting agent which takes it to such parts of the plants as need food. 
Air is the medium in which the above-ground parts of the 




"at*? 



A clover plant, showing its parts in relation 
to the soil and atmosphere. From the at- 
mosphere and water the plant derives oxy- 
gen, carbon, and hydrogen. From the soil 
the mineral plant-food elements are taken. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 59 

plant live, just as the soil is the medium in which the under- 
ground parts of the plant live. 

Carbon, next to water, is the most abundant material of the 
many which enter the plant. Carbon comes from the air and 
passes into the plant through the pores of the leaves. Carbon 
Dioxide of the air is decomposed when it enters the plant with 
the air, the carbon remaining and the oxygen going back into 
the air. Thus plants take carbon out of the air and liberate 
oxygen, while animals take oxygen from the air and liberate 
carbon. 

Soil Conditions that are congenial to plants are important 
factors in the lives of plants. There are many conditions of the 
soil that are favorable, and many that are unfavorable, and a 
knowledge of these conditions will enable the farmer to plant 
certain crops where certain conditions most favorable to them 
are present and avoid unfavorable conditions. Drainage, plow- 
ing, cultivation, organic matter, lime, air, water, temperature, 
sunshine, bacteria, insects, manures and fertilizers change soil 
conditions, and enable plants to live or interfere with their 
growth, as the case may be. 

Insects and Diseases of many kinds and in vast numbers 
are ever laying in wait for their attack upon plants, and the 
farmer must be alert at all times so that he may avoid or destroy 
them. 

Nature supplies the necessities of plants only in part, and by 
Divine command man is responsible for the good care and 
abundant feeding of the crops he grows. Man must protect his 
crops from their enemies, and supply them with their needs if 
his crops are to give abundant harvests. 

Each plant is endowed with life, with its own peculiar ana- 
tomical structure, and performs in its own way its nature-given 
physiological functions. In living its life, each plant employs 
natural laws and sciences from the germination of the seed on 
through to the final goal of reproduction; and solution, absorp- 
tion, capillarity, osmosis, diffusion, adhesion, cohesion each 
performs its necessary functions in enabling plants to live and 
grow, to reproduce and ripen. The growing of plants is intimately 
associated with nature's benign mysteries, and man has much 
to learn from them. By the slow processes of evolution, the 
more rapid processes of breeding, and the employment of arti- 
ficial nutriment, plants have made the world a better place to 
live in. And still better will the world be when the farmer 



60 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



knows his soil and knows his crops so that he may best treat his 
soil and best feed his crops, which in a great measure is the 
mission we hope to fulfill with this little book. 

It was the great scientist Darwin who likened the roots of 
plants to the brain of animals on account of their great dis- 
crimination and ingenuity. Their tiny finger-like rootlets go 
feeling their way into the soil for nourishment as well as to fix 
the plant which is to sprout from its roots perfectly secure in its 
abiding place. 

Question: WHY ARE THERE ONE-SEED-LEAF AND 
TWO-SEED-LEAF PLANTS? 

Answer: All of the important farm crops fall under two clas- 
sifications and their separation into these two groups naturally 
follows the differences in their habits of growth and their struc- 
ture. One-seed-leaf plants germinate from their seeds by send- 
ing up one leaf first, while two-seed-leaf plants send up two 
leaves. Corn, wheat, grasses, etc., are samples of the one-seed- 
leaf class, and cotton, beans, cabbage, etc., are examples of the 
two-seed-leaf plants. One-seed-leaf plants grow from the in- 




The germination of Corn (one-seed-leaf plant) and Bean (two-seed-leaf plant) showing 
progressive stages from germination to mature plant. 

side, have no bark, their leaf veins are parallel and they have no 
tap root. Two-seed-leaf plants grow by additions to the out- 
side, have a distinct bark, their leaf veins are netted, and they 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE _Q1 

have a distinct tap root. The difference in the root systems 
affects the manner of growing of these two classes of plants, 
since the tap rooted crops feed deep and the fibrous root crops 
feed shallow. The rotation of these two classes aids the farmer 
in his efforts to conserve his soil's fertility and produce each 
crop more economically and more profitably. 

Plant Nutrition 

Question: WHAT ARE THE ORGANIC AND INORGANIC 

SUBSTANCES? 
Answer: The several materials or substances which the plant 
takes into its structure are of two classes; inorganic or mineral; 
and organic or vegetable, and animal. 

The inorganic portion of the food of plants is in all soils in 
varying quantities and varying proportions and varying com- 
binations. They are silica, iron, aluminum, soda, magnesia, 
lime, potash, phosphoric acid and sulphur. We know that all 
of these substances are plant-foods since they are found in the 
ashes of alnplants when the ashes are analyzed. If only one 
of the elements essential to plant growth is not present, plants 
will not grow. Most of them are present in all soils and in 
quantities sufficient for the needs of large crops. Since, how- 
ever, all of them are necessary to plant growth the absence 
of one or even the presence of a too small amount of one will 
proportionally limit the growth of a crop. To correct these 
defects it becomes necessary to apply to the soil the elements 
that are deficient or wanting. This is done by applying good 
commercial fertilizers — plant-foods. 

The organic portion of the food of plants is also found in all 
soils and most of them in quantities sufficient for the needs of 
the largest yields of crops. The organic elements are oxygen, 
hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. The first three are always 
available for the fullest development of any plant, but only 
occasionally is there enough nitrogen present. 

These inorganic and organic substances are plant-foods, but 
all of them must be present in abundance and in a form available 
to the plant to be grown, otherwise the plant cannot grow. 

Question: WHAT IS PLANT-FOOD? 

Answer: Plant-food is the materials taken from the soil and 
air by means of roots and leaves, and is transformed within the 



62 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

plant into cellular structures which make the many parts of the 
plant. Plant-food is the material of which plants are made, 
entering the plant either dissolved in water or as a gas. Dif- 
ferent parts of plants and different products of plants vary 
widely in composition. An onion, a sugar beet, a tomato and a 
pepper plant may each be growing in a tobacco field under 
identical conditions, living upon the same food, yet each will 
develop its characteristic size, shape, color, flavor, odor and 
composition. The superlative value of plants comes from the 
fact that they can take from the soil and air the same raw ma- 
terials, manufacturing a variety of products not equalled any- 
where else in Nature. Each plant in its own way is a chemical 
laboratory where a certain class of products is manufactured, 
and every genus, every species of plant has its own proprietary 
products manufactured from the same raw materials. These 
raw materials are plant-food. How necessary it is that these 
raw materials, in both kind and quantity, be within reach of 
each plant in a field so that all may best serve man as Nature 
intended they should. 

Question: WHERE DO PLANTS GET THEIR FOOD? 
Answer: Plants get their food partly from the soil in which 
they grow and partly from the air surrounding them. The 
young roots push their way through the soil and form many 
root branches. The tip of each root is armed with strong cells 




Cross-Section of a Single Root Hair 



so clustered as to make the tip sharp-pointed. As the cells 
multiply and enlarge behind the tip it is pushed forward into 
the soil. Just back of these tips the surface cells of the young 
roots develop a multitude of very minute thread-like projections 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 63 

called root-hairs. These act as mouths, through which the food 
enters the plant. Other plant-foods come from the air, entering 
the plant through openings in the leaves. 

Plants are prolific feeders or eaters, for they eat constantly, 
not only three times a day as you and I do. Hence, as they take 
food from the soil's larder we must replenish this larder so that 
the plants will not starve. 

Question: SHOULD THE HOME OF PLANTS BE A 

CONGENIAL ONE? 

Answer: Animals may move from place to place in search of 
food, but plants must depend upon the limited area of the soil 
in which they live for all they get for their growth. Conse- 
quently the soil is the home of the plant, and if we expect a 
good crop we must make the homes of the plants which make 
up a crop congenial homes. Plants, like animals, if not satisfied 
with their surroundings will show by their growth and other 
behavior that conditions are not favorable to their full develop- 
ment. 

A congenial soil is one that is deep, well pulverized, through 
which water circulates in every direction freely and uniformly, 
in which there is a good amount of organic matter undergoing 
decomposition, and in which there are always present the plant- 
food constituents necessary for the development of the plant. 
In addition to the natural conditions of the soil, favorable to 
plant growth, there are changes which must be made by plow- 
ing, harrowing, cultivating, drainage, and other means, all of 
which aid in making the soil a congenial home for the plant. 
The farmer must know what natural and artificial conditions the 
soil must possess, and he must see that these conditions are 
present. No plant will find the soil a congenial home if there is 
not an abundant supply of plant-food in the proper form 
demanded by the plant and available for its use. 

Soil 

Question: WHAT IS SOIL? 

Answer: Soil is made from the disintegration of the earth's 
surface, and to be soil proper in the agricultural sense, it must 
contain in addition to air, water and soluble mineral elements, 
a good supply of organic matter undergoing decomposition. No 
soil is a good soil without decomposing organic matter or humus 



64 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 




Section of soil showing Soil Particles 
and Air Spaces. 



for it modifies extreme conditions which might affect the plant; 
makes the soil friable and loose, and enables it to hold more 
moisture. It also supplies plant-food in its best form for the 
best growth of the crop. 

Soils are divided into two broad 
classes. One controlled by the chemical 
composition of the soil, the other by its 
physical properties. There are hundreds 
of different kinds of soil, each varying 
in characters and composition. Thus, 
a soil may be a sandy soil, a clay soil, 
or a lime soil, depending upon which of 
these materials predominates; or, it may 
be a coarse soil, a fine soil, or a gravelly 
soil. Again, soils may be classified into 
light soils, if they are easily worked, 
heavy soils, if they are worked with 
difficulty. Either extreme is objection- 
able, and the addition of an abundance 
of organic matter in the form of farm manures or plants plowed 
into the soil will make a heavy soil lighter and light soil heavier. 

Question: WHAT IS SUBSOIL? 

Answer: Soil proper is the thin surface which represents the 
depth to which a field has been plowed and the depth into 
which organic matter has been incorporated. Just under this 
strata lies the subsoil, in the position it was left when formed 
from the original rock from which it came. The subsoil is a 
great storehouse for mineral plant-food, and it may be formed 
into new soil by bringing it to the surface a little at a time, so 
that water, air, temperature, and the dissolving influences of 
organic matter undergoing decomposition may crumble it and 
liberate the plant-food it contains. Many fields produce poor 
crops on account of the soil being too shallow. This may in 
part, at least, be remedied by deeper plowing, so that the depth 
of the soil may be increased and the crop have ample room for 
the spread of its roots in search of food and water. 

Question: ARE THERE MANY KINDS OF SOILS? 
Answer: There are two larger groups of soils, and these are: 
sedentary and transported. The first lies over the rock from 
which it was formed or has not been moved, and the second has 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



65 



been moved by water, glacier, wind or gravity. Soils may be 
residual, cumulos, alluvial, glacial, aeolian-loess or colluvial, 
according to their origin. The kind of rock from which soils are 
formed make different soils, and if these are nixed their classi- 
fication becomes complex. Each of the above may be further 
classified accordingly to the size of the soil particles. Clay soils 
are composed of the finest particles, clay loam next, and then 
silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, fine sand, sand, 
coarse sand, gravelly loam and gravel. Each of these have their 
peculiar properties, varying in character and composition. 

Knowledge of soils is important, since such knowledge aids 
greatly in determining what crops will grow best on the soil of a 
farm and how the different soils should be cultivated. A knowl- 
edge of the character, composition and condition of a soil aids 
greatly in determining how each should be treated and what 
fertilizers will give the best results when applied to them. 

Question: HOW ARE SOILS FORMED? 

Answer: The natural processes of soil formation have been 
going on since the beginning of the world. The presence and 
activities of plants and animals have contributed a great deal to 
soil formation. There are many agencies at work in making 
soil. Every root and every insect or other animal that enters the 
soil aids in the admission of air and water. Air and water are 




The soil as shown in the bottom of illustration has been formed by the disintegration of the 
rock above. This process of disintegration is continuous and is caused mainly by the action 
of air, water, and temperature. 



66 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

the two great altering influences operating to change the inert 
surface of the earth into soil possessing conditions suitable to 
plant growth. Every drop of water and every breath of air 
entering the soil have the power of changing it so that it may be 
more suitable to plant growth. Change of temperature, espe- 
cially freezing and thawing, crush and loosen soil particles, 
thus exposing new surfaces for the action of air and water. 
This process has been going on since the beginning of time and 
will continue until the end of time. Accessory to these influences 
we have the action of animals and plants in their various ways, 
all of which tend to aid in the formation of soils. Even the dead 
bodies of animals and plants give out juices or chemicals which 
have dissolving power, and assist, still further, in reducing the 
inert and dead soil so as to make it better and better each year 
for supplying food to plants and through plants to animals. 

Question: DO CROPS FIND ENOUGH PLANT-FOOD IN 
THE SOIL? 

Anstver: Soils are formed from rocks which are broken up or 
disintegrated by several natural agencies. The resulting soils 
contain the materials of which the rocks were formed, and since 
there are many kinds of rocks of extremely variable composi- 
tion, the compositions of soils vary with the compositions of the 
materials forming them. It follows that many soils are deficient 
in some of the necessary plant-food elements. Soils are also 
subject to erosion by rain-water, and portions of plant-foods are 
washed away and other portions are dissolved by water and lost. 
When crops are grown they take from the soil varying quantities 
of plant-foods and these foods are removed in the crop. The 
yield of a crop is a measure of the plant-food available in the 
soil in which the crop grows. If there is an abundant supply of 
plant-food the crop will be a good one. If the plant-food is 
deficient the crop will be poor in proportion to the deficiency. 

Question: WHAT IS A FERTILE SOIL? 

Answer: A fertile soil is a congenial home for plants to live 
and grow in. It must be deep, well pulverized, contain a great 
variety of soil particles, have an ample supply of organic matter, 
permit air to pass into it and circulate through it, and permit 
water to pass into it and circulate freely without stagnating. 
Above all a fertile soil is one that in addition to the possession 
of desirable physical qualities contains an ample supply of all 
the plant food necessary to plants for their growth. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



67 



Question: WHAT IS A POOR SOIL? 

Answer: There are many things that may be responsible for a 
soil being poor or infertile. Some soils naturally are hard, 
harsh and uncongenial to crops and may contain insufficient 
quantities of plant-food. Such soils must be appropriately 
treated to develop a good physical condition, and must have 
plant-food added if they are to produce profitable crops. Soils 
may be deficient in phosphoric acid, nitrogen or potash; they 
may be deficient in one or in two of these elements or they may 




The upper field, without fertilizer, yielded but S bushels of potatoes and 6 bushels of corn 
per acre. The lower field, treated with fertilizer, produced two fine clover crops, the second 
crop being turned under and furnishing fertility for an 87 bushel per acre crop of potatoes 
and a 57 bushel per acre yield of corn. 



be deficient in all three. The element of plant-food present in 
the smallest quantity becomes a limiting factor. Some soils 
become poor through unwise or neglectful management. This 
may result from surface washing, shallow plowing and absence 
of a sufficient amount of organic matter in the soil to keep it in a 
wholesome condition. Such soils may be restored to a high 
degree of fertility by judicious plowing, thorough pulverization, 
the addition of organic matter and proper plant-food. No soil 
can be fertile if it is supplied with any one of these three ele- 
ments in an amount insufficient to supply the demands of the 
crops to be grown on it. 



68 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



Fertility 

Question: HOW MAY SOILS BE MADE FERTILE? 

Answer: Since physical condition and chemical composition 
are responsible for soils being fertile or infertile, it naturally 
follows that making a soil fertile must be preceded by a knowl- 
edge of it present condition. Soils may be made fertile by in- 
creasing their depth, by pulverizing their particles, by increasing 
their power to hold water, by controlling leaching and soil 
wash, by the addition of organic matter, by rotation of crops, 
and by judicious and appropriate application of available plant- 
food. 




Corn on which no fertilizer has been applied. Compare this crop with that on page 73 and see 
what a difference the application of Complete Fertilizer makes in a crop. 



Question: HOW ARE SOILS DEPLETED? 
Answer: Soils are depleted of fertility or made poor by tillage, 
by leaching, by washing, by the removal of plant-food in the 
crops taken from the land, and by the failure of the farmer to 
keep up the supply of humus and plant-food found in the soil 
when it was in its virgin state. 

Question: HOW DOES TILLAGE DEPLETE SOILS? 

Answer: The virgin soils in forests or prairie contain the 
maximum amounts of plant-food and an abundant and annually- 
added-to supply of humus making materials. When brought 
into cultivation not only is this annual supply of organic matter 
stopped, but the accumulations of many years decomposes and 
is leached or washed away. Thus tillage or growing crops 
depletes the soil of fertility or makes it poor by dissipating or 
destroying its good physical properties and by loss of plant food. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



69 



Question: HOW DOES CONTINUOUS CROPPING 
DEPLETE SOILS? 

Answer: The continuous cropping of a field in one crop or 
closely related crops, and especially if the crop or crops demand 
clean culture will rapidly deplete a soil of its fertility. Some 
crops draw heavily upon the soil's supply of phosphorus, 
others draw heavily upon the supply of nitrogen and others upon 
the supply of potash. This exhausts most soils. Continuous 
croppings subject a soil to the same treatment year after year 
and untoward excesses and abuses follow, diseases and insects 
accumulate and the soil becomes depleted of its plant-food 
supply, it loses its good physical properties and becomes poor. 




This corn has had the necessary plant-food elements supplied by an application of Complete 
Fertilizer. Corn such as this will bring big returns. 

Question: HOW DOES THE REMOVAL OF CROPS FROM 

THE SOIL DEPLETE IT? 
Answer: The growing of crops and their removal from the 
land to a high degree impoverishes soils, since each pound, 
bushel or ton of crops taken from the soil carries from it a definite 
quantity of all the elements of fertility. The quantity of plant 
food removed from the soil is proportionate to the yield or 
quantity of crop removed. If an acre of land produces 30 
bushels of corn that acre loses 30 pounds of nitrogen, 5.1 pounds 
of phosphorus, and 5.7 pounds of potash. If the acre was 
made to grow ten crops of corn there would be removed from it 



70 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



300 pounds of nitrogen, 51 pounds of phosphorus and 57 pounds 
of potash. The Missouri Experiment Station grew corn alone 
on the same land for seventeen years and at the end of that 
time the yield had been reduced to 11.8 bushels per acre. The 
same station, with corn in a rotation with legumes and with the 
addition of plant-food, secured 77.8 bushels of corn at the end 
of the seventeen year period. 




This potato patch on farm of Mr. Dell Ross, Rural Point, Va., was not fertilized and as a result 

the crop was very poor. 

Soils may in many ways become depleted of their fertility 
but the two main causes of soil poverty are due to soil wash and 
the removal of plant-food in the crops taken from the land. 

A fertile soil is a soil maintained in a good physical condition 
and containing an ample supply of plant-food for the crops 
that it is expected to produce. If a soil is not maintained in a 
good physical condition and does not contain, or is not given, 
the plant food necessary for profitable crops it is a poor soil. 



Question: HOW ARE DEPLETED SOILS RESTORED? 

Answer: Soils should not be allowed to lose their fertility. 
When a soil becomes poor something is wrong with its owner or 
with those who have been responsible for its care. The time 
may come when there are no poor soils. Something is lacking 
when a soil is poor. In China lands that have been cultivated 
for forty centuries are now maintained at a high degree of fer- 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



71 



tility. In Europe lands that have been cultivated for hundreds 
of years are now producing twice to four times as much as the 
comparatively new lands of many of our American States. It 
should be a crime to wear out soil. Not only the present gen- 
eration, but all future generations own it. We of the present 
generation are but keepers of this " divine heritage," the soil. 
If we neglect or abuse it we are not only exercising poor citizen- 
ship and wasting our talents and sustenance but we are recreant 
to a divine trust. 




This is the same field on Mr. Ross' farm. Note the fine appearance of this Potato Field. 
This crop followed the one shown on page 70 the same season. Mr. Ross fertilized the second 
crop liberally with V-C Fertilizers and as a result has a fine Potato crop. V-C points the way 
to greater Soil Fertility and Increased Yielding per acre. 

Question: HOW DOES GOOD TILLAGE CONSERVE AND 
RESTORE FERTILITY? 

Answer: Good tillage that conserves the qualities and com- 
position of soils will aid in the restoration and maintenance of 
fertility. Deep plowing done at the right time and in the right 
way and thorough pulverization of the soil are the foundations 
upon which productive soils rest and accompany or precede 
other means by which depleted soils are restored and maintained. 



Question: HOW DOES ADDING PLANT-FOOD TO THE 
SOIL CONSERVE AND RESTORE FERTILITY? 

Answer: Depleted or poor soils are restored or made fertile by 
restoring the elements of plant-food that have been lost or re- 



72 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

moved. These elements are phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash 
and one of the greatest triumphs of science is the discovery of 
means and methods by which these indispensable plant-foods 
conveyed by fertilizers may be returned to the soil and not only 
restore its lost power of production but make it more fertile 
than when it was in its virgin state. 




Clover on right was fertilized with manure, limestone and rock phosphate, that on left with 
manure alone. The two patches received the same seeding. Manure alone is not a balanced 
Fertilizer, as the above clearly shows. 

Though we may practice the best systems of farming, only a 
small part of the plant-food taken from the soil in crops can be 
returned to it. Railroads groan under the loads of farm products 
that daily leave the farms. There is a shortage the world over 
in ships for carrying abroad the products of farms. Every 
pound of these millions of tons of farm products carry from the 
farm its precious plant-food and year after year this drain 
increases. 

"Any system of farming that does not provide for the return 
to the soil of as much plant-food as is removed by the crops will 
deplete the fertility of the soil." H. J. Waters. 

A bale of cotton with its accompanying seed contains 33 
pounds of nitrogen, 13.1 pounds of phosphoric acid and 13.9 
pounds of potash. 

Twenty-five bushels of corn with its accompanying stover 
contains 40.5 pounds of nitrogen, 16.5 pounds of phosphoric 
acid and 27 pounds of potash. 

To restore the plant-food removed by a bale of cotton and 
its accompanying seed will require 200 pounds of nitrate of 
soda, 82 pounds of 16% acid phosphate, and 110 pounds of 
kainit; total 392 pounds of fertilizer. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 73 

To restore the plant-food removed by 25 bushels of corn 
and its accompanying stover will require 250 pounds of nitrate 
of soda, 104 pounds of 16% acid phosphate, and 211 pounds of 
kainit; total 565 pounds of fertilizer. 

To restore the 93 pounds of nitrogen, 19 pounds of phos- 
phorus and 63 pounds of potash contained in two tons of 
cowpea hay would require 581 pounds of 16% nitrate of soda, 
120 pounds of acid phosphate and 504 pounds of kainit; total 
1205 pounds of fertilizer. 

The same data may be worked out for all crops and nothing 
is more evident, in the premises, than that continued taking from, 
without giving to the soil will deplete it; and, that restoring 
the removed plant-food together with good farm practices will 
maintain the soil's fertility indefinitely. 

Question: WHY IS IT MORE PROFITABLE TO OWN AND 
CULTIVATE FERTILE FIELDS? 

Answer: It requires as much preparation, cultivation and 
other care for growing a crop that will produce say 15 bushels 
of corn to the acre as it does for the production of 30 bushels per 
acre. In the first case the crop merely pays for itself, and in the 
second it gives 100 per cent profit over the cost of production. 
It costs a certain proportion or per cent of each crop to bring it 
to maturity, and the yield in excess of the cost of production is 
profit. In addition to this great advantage which fertile soils 
have over poor soils is the fact that quantity and quality of 
crops grown on poor soils is greatly reduced and the opportunity 
of the farmer is materially limited. Fertile fields not only help 
to increase yields per acre but also increase the quality of crops, 
as well as assuring an earlier maturity of crops, which is often 
so essential and profitable. 

Drainage 

Question: IS GOOD DRAINAGE ESSENTIAL TO GOOD 

CROPS? 
Answer: Too much water standing for any considerable 
length of time on or near the surface of a soil destroys ordinary 
farm crops. While water is of prime necessity to plants, never- 
theless they may drown in too much water. Man must have 
water if he is to live, but he too may drown in water. Many 
millions of dollars are annually lost by farmers who attempt to 
cultivate land that is too wet, and millions of acres of the best 



74 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



cultivated lands in the United States were once too wet to 
cultivate, and there are millions more of the best land in need 
of drainage which will be unproductive until drained. Drainage 
removes surplus water, deepens the soil, prevents too great 
dilution of plant-food; improves the quality and texture of soils 
by making them porous and friable; admits air with its food- 
making and purifying oxygen; enables plants to stand drouth 
better, to send their roots deeper; it warms the soil and extends 
the period of plant growth; it checks winter killing of crops; 
crops start growing earlier in the spring and continue longer in 
growth in the fall; it aids in the healthful development of bene- 
ficial bacteria; seeds will germinate better in drained land; crops 
rot less and are more easily gathered from drained land than 
from land in need of drainage; and good drainage also improves 
the health of the community as well as the crops. 







Undrained land showing standing water, which makes crop production impossible. This 
condition is common in many sections of the country. 



Question: WHAT ARE THE INDICATIONS OF THE 
NEED OF DRAINAGE? 

Answer: The need of drainage is often very evident, while in 
many cases it is not so evident. Not knowing that a field or a 
part of a field needs drainage, farmers often cultivate it for years 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



75 



at a loss, while proper drainage would enable them to reap rich 
profits. The need of drainage is indicated by water standing 
on the land after rains, by the cracking of the surface when it 
dries, by clods and harsh soil texture when plowed, by the growth 
of plants commonly found in wet places, by the water table 
being near the surface of the soil, etc. After a wet season irregu- 
lar areas in fields often show their need of drainage by the slow 
growth and poor color of growing crops, because the plant-food 
has been washed away. Lands showing any of the above indi- 
cations of an excess of water, though they be shown for but a 
short while, are in need of proper drainage. 




The same land as on preceding page, after tile drainage. Cowpeas and Corn are now grown 
with excellent results as the illustration shows. 

Question: HOW MAY WET LANDS BE DRAINED? 

Answer: The drainage of wet lands is an old practice and 
like other old practices was at its beginning primitive. There 
are various ways in which land may be drained so that it may be 
free of surplus water. Open ditches and underground drains 
are for the removal of water. If large quantities of water ac- 
cumulate on the surface or are brought from adjacent areas, 
open ditches may be best employed, but wherever they can be 
replaced with tile this should be done. The open ditch is always 
changing its course, filling in places, taking up land which should 
grow crops and divides fields; they are unsightly and grow up 
with weeds and bushes that harbor insects, noxious weeds and 
plant diseases. They require constant attention and are ex- 
pensive to maintain. Other materials like stone, poles, plank, 
etc., may sometimes be used in its place, but nothing is so de- 
sirable, effective and durable as drain tile made of burnt clay. 
Any one with ordinary intelligence will find no difficulty in 
following instructions for locating ditches for tile, digging them 
and laying the tile, and instructions may be had of any of the 
State Experiment Stations or of the National Department of 
Agriculture. Tile may be put down at seasons of the year 



76 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



when there is not much work to be done on the farm and when 
crops are not on the land. 

Question: HOW DOES SOIL WASH DEPLETE SOILS? 

Answer: One may find encrmous areas of abandoned land 
almost anywhere through the upper coastal plain or the Pied- 
mont section of the Southern States, through many sections of 
the Middle and New England States and even in the Middle and 
Far West. This is particularly noticeable in the upper portions 
of the Southern States where the land is rough and rolling. 




Fields scarred with gullies and bare from, neglect are too common in many States. The 
criminal neglect of land has been called "the crime of gullying." It is an inexcusable neglect 
and a criminal waste. Had this land been wisely cared for, this picture could not have been 
made. Good farming will prevent such waste of land. The time has come when the whole 
world needs the bountiful fruitfulness of every acre and these wasted areas should be put 
to work. They are wasted, poor and starving, they need good care and abundant nourishment. 

This wholesale impoverishment is very largely due to a lack of 
control of rain water. When rain falls faster than the soil can 
take it up it will accumulate on the surface after the soil has 
become saturated. Then, if the land is not level, this water 
will flow in the line of least resistance to some stream. When 
soil is saturated with water the weight of the particles of soil is 
greatly reduced or the particles are buoyed and nearly float; 
the water which surrounds them lubricates them, and with a 
slight fall to the land the surplus water washes soil, plant-food, 
organic matter, and fertilizers into the streams below. The 
natural agencies previously spoken of are constantly operating in 
making soil, and if the surface washing carries soil away as fast 
as it is made the land necessarily becomes poorer and poorer. 
Not only will its good physical properties be destroyed but 
the plant-food which it contains will also be carried away. 




VARIOUS STEPS IN TILE DRAINAGE. 
1— Trenching machine. Man in rear laying tiles by hand. 2— Testing grade of trench by use of grading 
line and rod. 3— A pile of drain tiles and tools used in laying tile. 4— Levelling cross bar to support 
grading line in making drain trench level. 5— Finishing grade with tile scoop. The scoop levels the 
bottom of trench so the tiles will lay properly. 6— Laying tile by hand. 7— Open drain ditch for tile 
outlet. 8 — The use of tile hook in laying tiles. This is one of the best methods. 



78 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

The greatest cause of soil depletion is erosion or soil wash. 
Especially is this true on soils that are rolling or soils of rough 
topography and when clean culture crops are grown. Many 
soils in the South lose more fertility by the washing away of the 
soil than by all other causes contributing to the loss of fertility. 

Question: HOW DOES LEACHING DEPLETE SOILS? 
Answer: When plant-food leaches from the soil it is carried 
away by its being dissolved in water, the water having passed 
to a depth beyond the reach of the roots of crops. The shallow 
soils which are so common in many sections of the country, and 
the worn soils and the over-cropped soils are all more subject to 
leaching than are better soils. Deep, well-pulverized soils, and 
especially soils that are filled with humus, are less affected by 
leaching than soils in a poor condition. In the better soils the 
water is retained and utilized to a greater extent, consequently 
more plant-food is taken up and plant-food which would have 
been leached is held in the soil, partly in new combinations and 
partly stored in the crop. A soil that is subjected to leaching 
loses each year a part of the plant-food which it contains, 
thereby becoming poorer and poorer. To restore a soil that has 
been impoverished by leaching is often a slow process, but can 
be accomplished by deep, thorough preparation, good drainage, 
the addition of humus, to the soil, by appropriate rotations, by 
adding Commercial Fertilizers and manures, and by protecting 
the surface from washing. 

Question: HOW DOES THE CHECKING OF LEACHING 
AND SOIL WASH CONSERVE AND RESTORE 
FERTILITY? 

Answer: Leaching of plant-food and the washing away of the 
soil itself are prevented or at least reduced to a minimum by 
the control and utilization of rain water. Deep plowing, thor- 
ough pulverization of the soil, abundant organic matter in the 
soil and growing crops all tend to cause increased quantities of 
water from heavy rains to enter the soil and be held by it. Leach- 
ing and washing are best prevented by treating the soil by every 
means possible that will induce it to take up and hold the 
greatest amount of water. Nothing is more necessary to plant 
growth than water and often the available water supply is the 
limiting factor in crop production. Water, the most necessary 
thing for the utilization of plant-food by the crop, may be the 
cause of the loss of more plant-food than all other losses from 
all other causes and the first and most necessary means for the 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



79 



restoration of a soil depleted of fertility is water control. A 
field deeply plowed, finely pulverized and well filled with humus 
will hold many times more water than a field with a shallow, 
hard, compact soil with little humus in it. Thus, depth of soil, 
fineness of its particles and a high humus content checks leaching 
and washing and restores lost fertility. 

Some fields are so steep or have such a fall that all of the 
water falling during a heavy rain cannot be taken up by the 
soil. In such cases it is all the more necessary that these fields 
be maintained in crops that cover the ground well and fill the 
soil with their roots and thus check both washing and leaching. 
A bare soil suffers more from washing and leaching than a soil 
covered with a crop. Another highly efficient and often neces- 
sary means for controlling the run-off of heavy rains is the 
terrace. Terraces are banks thrown up with a depression above 




A Magnum Terrace in North Carolina. Terraces such as the above control the flow of rain 
water and prevent fields from washing and leaching. 

them for holding surplus water. The terraces are made at 
intervals and preferably should have a fall that will enable the 
surplus water to slowly pass away. The more slowly it drains 
away the greater the quantity that will soak into the ground; 
and that which does flow from the field is in such decreased 
quantity and goes off at so reduced a velocity that but little 
damage can be done. King estimates the soil materials an- 
nually carried by the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico 
to be so great that it would cover seventy-two sections of land 
to a depth of four feet. The erosion of fields in cultivation east 
and south of the Appalachian mountains is enormous. In the 



80 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

South where cotton and tobacco are important crops the most 
momentous farm management problem is soil wash and a more 
rational system of farming will restore hundreds of thousands 
of depleted acres to a fertility they have never known. 

Surface washing may best be prevented by so checking the 
flow of water which passes off over the surface so as to rob it of 
its power to do harm. This may be done by the following 
means: deep plowing and subsoiling which will open, loosen, 
and pulverize the soil so that it will take up and hold more 
water, the addition of organic matter in the form of stable 
manure or plants plowed down, the sowing of broadcast crops, 
especially those which occupy the ground for a year or more, 
by judicious rotation, and by mechanical means such as ter- 
races and hillside ditches which collect the water at intervals and 
carry it off slowly in broken quantities rather than allowing it 
to pass rapidly in large volumes. 

Crops requiring cultivation such as cotton, tobacco, corn 
and many others, especially when these crops are cultivated on 
beds or ridges are responsible for a very large portion of the loss 
of fertility by soil wash. This is especially true when these 
intertilled crops are for two or more years in succession grown 
on the same land. The avoidance of such practice and the 
following of a wise system of rotation with appropriate fertili- 
zation will check soil wash and conserve soil and plant-food. 

Water, Sun and Air 

Question: HOW DOES THE SUN BENEFIT SOILS AND 

CROPS? 
Answer: The sun is both a vitalizer and a disinfector. Its 
heat and light makes the earth habitable. The sun is the giver 
of rain and dew, and causes the air to move. The sun as a 
direct source of energy stores carbon in plants, and when their 
carbon is taken into the animal system as food it supplies the 
animal with heat and energy. Growing plants draw their food 
and water from the soil, which passes on to the leaves where, 
with the combined action of the green principle (chlorophyll) of 
plants and of sunshine, the food materials become digested food 
and returns to the various parts of the plant to become leaf, 
branch, bark, root, flower or fruit. If the sun is to do its work 
well plants must have an abundance of plant-food at their base 
or in their storehouse. 

The soil gets its heat from the sun. Without sunshine soils 
become uncongenial to plants. Crops will not thrive without 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 81 



sunshine. Too much direct sunshine may temporarily injure 
soils that are plowed wet and left in a cloddy condition. The sun 
aids the oxygen of the air while this most active of all elements 
is doing its duty in the soil or in the plant. Starches and sugars 
would not be formed were it not for the glorious sunshine, nor 
would flowers have their color and fragrance, nor fruit its blush 
and flavor. 

Question: HOW DOES AIR BENEFIT SOILS AND CROPS? 
Answer: The atmosphere or air is composed of about four 
parts of free nitrogen to one part of free oxygen. Nitrogen is 
the most expensive element that plants are composed of, and 
oxygen probably is the least expensive. Oxygen is the most 
active, the most important and one of the most abundant sub- 
stances in nature. It is found in combination with nearly every 
other element. It is actively engaged in the development or 
growth of living tissues, and is largely responsible for the break- 
ing down by decay or burning of all tissues. It is the most active 
and hardest worked element in nature. Air also contains car- 
bonic acid gas diffused through it, and this enters the plants 
through their leaves, and, by the action of the sunlight and the 
green parts of the leaves the oxygen is separated and goes back 
into the air. The carbon becomes a part of the plant, the main 
part, since live plants contain more carbon than any other one 
thing except water, while dry plants are often half carbon. 
The nitrogen of the air through the instrumentality of bacteria 
inhabiting the roots of legumes, enters into combinations in the 
legume and nourishes it. 

Question: HOW DOES WATER MOVE IN THE SOIL? 

Answer: When rain-water falls it continues to soak into the 
ground until all the spaces between the soil particles are filled. 
If, after the soil becomes filled with water, rain continues to fall 
faster than it sinks deeper into the ground, the surplus water 
will flow off. The water in the soil will continue to sink deeper 
and deeper until it has drained out from between the surface 
soil particles down to where water stands permanently in the 
soil. The depth down to this permanent water measured from 
the surface represents the distance of the water table from the 
surface. This water table rises when considerable rain falls and 
becomes lower in dry weather. Water is constantly travelling, 
one might say, from the water table upward to the surface 
where is passes into the air or is evaporated. Water moves by 



82 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



crawling over the surface of the particles of soil, consequently, 
the amount of water that moves and the rapidity with which it 
moves depends to a great extent upon the number of particles 
composing the soil and the nearness of these particles to each 
other. Roots of plants penetrate the soil passing between its 
particles, and the movement of water keeps them supplied with 
this important part of their food. 



RAIN 



SUN 






10 FEET 



30 FEET 




.WATER-TABLE 



The above diagram shows how water moves in the soil. Water goes into the soil by gravity, 
and circulates throughout the soil by the capillary action of the soil particles. A part of the 
water in the soil returns to the air by evaporation. 

Question: HOW DOES WATER CARRY PLANT-FOOD? 

Answer: The food that plants take out of the soil enters the 
plant in solution or dissolved in water. If you will place a tea- 
spoonful of sugar or of salt in a glass of water and stir it the 
sugar or salt will be dissolved or passes into solution. Since 
water forms the function of both dissolving or taking into 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



83 



solution plant-food and of carrying plant-food, one can appre- 
ciate better the importance of an abundance of water for sup- 
plying readily the roots of plants with all the food that they are 
capable of taking up. Plant-foods in solution occupy equally 
all parts of the liquid in which they dissolve, thus giving every 
tiny rootlet an opportunity to choose in quality and quantity 
the plant-food it needs. 

Treating the Soil 

Question: ARE ALL SOILS IN GOOD PHYSICAL CON- 
DITION FOR PLANT GROWTH? 

Ansvjer: They are not, and no soil in poor physical condition 
can produce the best crops. A fertile soil may be in poor physi- 
cal condition and produce only poor crops, while an infertile 
soil in good physical condition will produce good and profitable 
crops with proper treatment and liberal fertilization. Some 
soils are naturally harsh, hard, tenacious and cloddy. Water 
does not circulate in them well, they do not pulverize well when 




Poorly drained soils puddle in wet weather and crack open as their surfaces become dry. 
Either may cause the winter killing of small grain. Compacting the soil in early spring with 
roller will be very beneficial to the crop. The roots loosened by the winter's freezes will be 
pressed into the soil and evaporation of water from the soil will be checked. 



84 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



plowed or cultivated, nor do they respond to commercial fer- 
tilizers. Roots of plants do not penetrate them well, and the 
plant-food in them is not in a readily available form. The de- 
fects of such soils may be corrected by drainage, fall plowing 
and subsequent freezing, the addition of organic matter, appli- 
cations of lime, harrowing and rolling when they are neither too 
wet nor too dry. The physical properties of clay and clay loam 
soils are often seriously injured by being plowed when they are 
too wet. The addition of organic matter or lime, or both, and 
their being plowed rough late in the fall and exposed to the 
freezing effects of winter will add greatly to the physical and 
other good qualities of soils. 




The modern method of plowing. The tractor today is a mighty factor in America's Agri- 
cultural Program, and the need of them is growing daily. If America is to feed the world 
her farmers must produce more per acre. V-C Fertilizers will make your Soil and Crops 
Pay More. 

Question: WHEN SHOULD LAND BE PLOWED? 

Answer: It is out of the question to attempt to give any iron- 
clad rules that might be followed in determining when land 
should be plowed. On the other hand, under special condition 
it is not difficult to know the best time for plowing land. Land 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



85 



as a rule should be plowed long enough before the crop is planted 
so as to give an opportunity for its thorough discing, harrowing, 
and other means for pulverizing and crushing, and that it may 
settle through the influences of rain-water falling between the 
plowing and the time the seed are sown. If a considerable 
quantity of stable manure, pea-vines, clover or other green 
manuring crops are to be plowed down, or if stubble or other 
crop residue covers the surface, it is a decided advantage to 
plow such lands far enough in advance of the preparation of the 
seed bed to allow these materials plowed down to go through at 
least a partial decomposition. 

Land should not be plowed when too wet. If plowed at 
such times, especially if it contains a considerable amount of 
clay, great injury will result. Neither should land be plowed 
when it is too dry since such soils will be broken with great 
difficulty, and the large clods that are left will seriously inter- 
fere with good crop production. Land plowed in the fall so that 
the newly brought up soil may be exposed to the freezing effects 
of winter will receive greater benefit from plowing than land 
plowed at any other time. 

Question: HOW SHOULD LAND BE PLOWED? 
Answer: This question is one susceptible to so many answers 
and subject to so many exceptions that it can only briefly be 
discussed here. In the first place the plow used should be one 




Turning under the sod in the fall. The newly brought up soil will be exposed to the freezing 
effects of winter and the sod turned under will form organic matter, which every soil needs 
in abundance so that the plant-food in the soil will be avialable for the use of the crop grown. 



86 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



that is especially adapted to doing the kind of work you wish 
done in the soil to be plowed. The object of plowing is to break, 
partly turn over, and pulverize a certain depth from the sur- 
face. In different soils, at different seasons of the year and for 
different crops the depths to which a soil should be plowed will 
vary. Again, the character of the soil, the amount of organic 
matter it may contain, and the depth to which it has been pre- 
viously plowed will all have an important bearing upon the 
manner of plowing that should be done in each case. 




Another view of plowing with a tractor. On the vast fields of America the tractor is gradually- 
taking the place of the horse, and i3 daily doing work that was impossible with the horse. 

Question: HOW DOES TURNING THE LAND HELP IT? 

Answer: The surface of the soil is constantly exposed to drying 
influences, to the effects of the sun, and the changes of tem- 
perature; it is upon the surface of the soil that organic matter 
naturally accumulates, so it naturally follows that it is on the 
surface of soil where the most sudden, the most extreme, and the 
most important changes take place. It is the surface of the 
soil that suffers most from washing, and is benefited most by the 
action of air, temperature, and other natural soil-making 
agencies. It is also well understood that a uniform and homo- 
geneous soil is best adapted to plant growth. If soils are not 
turned there will be a wide variation between the characters and 
conditions of the surface and the characters and conditions at a 
depth of a few inches. Further, there is a gradual sifting of the 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 87 

small particles of the soil downwards, and it is at the bottom of 
the plowed area where these small particles stop and accumulate, 
stopping up the pores or capillary tubes which establish com- 
munication between soil and subsoil and permit air, water, and 
roots of plants to penetrate readily. When the land is turned 
there is an opportunity for the mixing of the lower and upper 
parts of the soil area turned. 

The manner of plowing will vary as the quantity of organic 
matter to be plowed down increases or decreases, and with the 
depth to which the soil has been previously plowed, as well as 
with the character of the subsoil and the degree of differences or 
changes which take place as one goes down. If a considerable 
amount of organic matter of any character is to be plowed into 
the soil the organic matter should be pulverized and well mixed 
with the surface of the soil to a depth of two, three, or more 
inches before the plowing is done. This will give a better dis- 
tribution of the material plowed down, help the soil very much 
in developing its ability to take up and hold water, and to dis- 
tribute that water uniformly throughout the soil. 

Depending upon several circumstances land may be turned 
completely over, or the plow slice may be turned on edge. The 
deeper the plowing the more necessary it is to leave the plow 
slice on edge. When land is plowed in this manner it gives a 
more thorough mixing of the bottom and top soils, thus making 
them better absorbers and holders of water and in other ways 
more congenial to plant growth. 

Question: HOW DEEP SHOULD LAND BE PLOWED? 

Answer: This question is susceptible to a great many answers. 
The depth to which a soil has been previously plowed, the 
character of the soil, and the amount of organic matter it con- 
tains, all these have a bearing upon the proper depth to which 
any given soil should be plowed. The aim, however, should be 
to gradually deepen all soils until a sufficient depth of good soil 
has been made for the full exercise of the functions of the plant 
for the attainment of its full growth. A soil that is 8 inches 
deep will hold twice as much plant-food and twice as much 
water as a soil 4 inches deep. A deep soil withstands extreme 
cold and extreme heat very much better than a shallow soil. 

The best way to increase the depth of the soil is to plow a 
little deeper each time it is broken until the desired depth has 
been reached. Care should be taken, however, to increase the 
amount of organic matter added to the soil in proportion to the 



88 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



increase in soil depth. Merely plowing deep and bringing to 
the surface the subsoil will not make soil of it. Soil is made 
through the combined action of heat, cold, and organic matter, 
all three of which act together in bringing about the changes in 
the character and composition of soils which best adapt them 
to an abundant plant growth. When a soil is made deeper it is a 
great advantage that the plowing which increases its depth be 
done in the fall or early winter. When done at this time opportu- 
nity is given for the breaking up and crumbling effects of freezes. 
If the deepening is done in late spring or summer the direct effect 
of the sun and wind often produces such a cloddy condition that 
a year or more will pass before it becomes thoroughly congenial 
to plant growth. 



A soil in good physical condition for plant growth. The roots of a plant can easily penetrate 
a soil such as this, and obtain plant food. If V-C is the plant food applied the farmer can be 
assured of a bountiful crop. 

A deep soil suffers very much less from surface washing than 
a shallow soil, and in the deepening of the soil we find one of the 
best means for a conservation of plant-food. Fertilizers applied 
to a shallow soil are more apt to be leached from them and lost 
than when applied to a deep soil. 

Question: HOW DOES HUMUS CONSERVE AND 
RESTORE FERTILITY? 

Answer: Humus is the life of a soil and humus always main- 
tained in good supply in a soil that is wisely and well tilled pre- 
pares the way for the development and perpetuation of a per- 
manent fertility — the goal for which all who till the soil should 
strive. Humus is organic matter decaying in the soil and is 
supplied to the soil by plowing down crops grown for soil im- 
provement, by the residues of crops and by the addition of 
manures. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



89 



Question: HOW SHOULD ORGANIC MATTER BE 
PLOWED INTO THE SOIL? 

Answer: When organic matter is added to the soil for the 
purpose of improving its condition, its effects will be much more 
marked if the material plowed into the soil is thoroughly in- 
corporated with it. When stubble, clover, pea-vines, sod, stable 
manure and other such materials are to be plowed in, the land 
should be thoroughly disced to a depth of not less than 4 to 6 
inches before these materials are plowed down with a turning 
plow. This not only mixes these materials well with the surface 
of the soil but enables one to plow to the bottom of the furrow 
thoroughly pulverizes soil mixed with organic matter, thus 




wnnmLwt 



T/t.i f\ \ \i\\ YUV: 



Discing is one of the most approved methods of plowing down organic matter which by discing 
is well mixed with surface of the soil. In many cases plowing will give better results if 
preceded by discing. 



giving a distribution from surface to subsoil of the organic matter 
and insuring thorough pulverization of the soil throughout its 
area by surface treatment with disc and harrow after the organic 
material and pulverized surface has been plowed down. This 
is a very important consideration when the materials mentioned 
above are added to the soil, and will often more than double the 
good effect that should be expected of them. Should this ma- 



90 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



terial be plowed down in mass and the plow slice inverted there 
would be a strata of plant residue between the soil and subsoil. 
This would very seriously intercept the rise of moisture from 
below, and often in practise will cause the dying of the crop 
should dry weather prevail. 

Question: WHEN AND HOW SHOULD LAND BE 

SUBSOILED? 
Answer: The fall of the year is considered the most ideal 
time for subsoiling, though farther South there is more oppor- 
tunity for midwinter plowing, and very often the work of the 
farm is better adjusted to subsoiling in late November, Decem- 
ber and January than in the fall. Subsoiling should be done 
early enough, however, to allow the subsoiled land to be sub- 




A popular type of subsoil plow. This subsoil plow follows in the furrow made by the turning 
plow, and reaches the soil the turning plow does not reach. New soil is thus incorporated 
with the old soil, giving greater soil depth. 

jected to several hard freezes before spring. Subsoiling does not 
necessarily mean that the lower strata of soil is to be brought to 
the surface. More properly speaking the term applies to break- 
ing the subsoil a few inches deeper than it is habitually broken 
by the use of the turning plow. The act of subsoiling is simple 
in performance. The subsoil plow is drawn by a team which 
follows in the furrow made by the turning plow. The foot of the 
subsoil plow penetrates and pulverizes the soil in and beneath 
the open furrow. It is usually considered safe, however, to bring 
that quantity of subsoil to the surface which is about equal to 
one-fourth the quantity of soil proper. The soil recently brought 
to the surface should be thoroughly mixed with the surface soil, 
both of which should be well pulverized. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 91 

Question: WHEN IS SUBSOILING BENEFICIAL? 
Answer: If the soil proper has under it a hard, close, or ten- 
acious subsoil the breaking of the sub strata will be of great 
benefit in permitting rain-water to descend and soil water to 
rise; in giving the roots of plants an opportunity to penetrate 
deep and secure their allotted supply of food and water. It will 
avoid extremes of temperature, extreme wet and extreme dry 
conditions. 

Question: WHEN IS SUBSOILING HARMFUL? 

Answer: If subsoiling is done when the ground is too wet it 
will cause a running together of the particles or "baking" and 
the locking up of plant-food. At the same time the power of 
the soil to hold water will be decreased. If too much of the sub- 
soil is brought to the surface it will so dilute the productive sur- 
face soil that its evil effects may be shown for a year or more. 
If the subsoil is already loose and pulverized, and offers no re- 
sistance to the descent of water or the entrance of roots, it will 
be a useless operation, and may to some extent be harmful to 
subsoil it, though such soils may to advantage be plowed deeper. 

Question: WHY ARE DEEP MELLOW SOILS BEST? 
Answer: A brief answer to this question is that there is more 
soil if the soil is deep, and better soil if it is mellow. Deep and 
mellow soils will hold more plant-food and more water. They 
will give opportunity for the penetration of more roots, and 
thus with an abundance of food and drink and great numbers of 
roots, the plant has ample opportunity of supplying itself with 



A deep mellow soil allows the roots to penetrate in every way in search of food with which 
to nourish the plant. If the necessary plant food elements are present the plant will be 
robust, healthy and strong. 



92 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



all the nourishment necessary for the best growth and the most 
abundant growth. Fertilizers applied to deep and mellow soils 
will give from two to four times the beneficial results as would be 
given by the same fertilizers applied to shallow, harsh soils. 

Question: WHY SHOULD SOIL BE PULVERIZED? 

Answer: Soil should be pulverized so that the surface area of 
the soil may be increased, increased quantities of plant-food 
liberated, and the water-holding power increased. Pulverizing 
soil gives more soil and better soil. The importance of water in 
crop production is universally recognized, and a simple illus- 
tration will show how reducing the size of soil particles will 
increase the power of that soil to hold 
water. Remembering that the water is 
held in the soil by clinging to the surface 
of the soil particles we will find that should 
a cubic inch of stone be dipped in water 
the 6 sides of the stone when removed from 
the water would each hold a square inch 
of film water. Should this stone be cut in 
two 10 times in the direction of one of its 
dimensions, 20 more square inches of sur- 
face would be exposed. Should it be cut 
again 10 times in another of its dimensions, 
another 20 square inches of surface would 
be exposed. Should the cutting be repeated 
through the third dimensions, still another 
20 square inches of surface would be ex- 
posed, giving 66 square inches of surface 
where there were only 6 before. In addi- 
tion there would be the same increase in 
the exposure of the stone to the various 
agencies which act upon it, break it up 
and liberate its plant-food. A pulverized 
soil holds more water and holds it longer, 
holds more plant-food and holds it longer, 
liberates more plant-food from the particles 
which compose the soil, permits roots to 
grow wider, deeper and in increased num- 
bers and gives greatly increased and more 
profitable returns from fertilizing mater- 
ials added tO the SOil. Amounts of water absorbed by 

equal quantities of course and fine 
soils. The smaller the soil particles 
the greater amount of water it 
will hold. 









9 OZ. 



45 OZ. 





MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 93 

Question: HOW MAY SOILS BE TREATED TO TAKE 

UP AND HOLD MORE WATER? 

Answer: The amount of water available for plant growth is 
one of the most commonly effective factors in crop production. 
It naturally follows that anything we may do to the soil which 
will enable it to take up and hold more water will be a direct and 
important step towards more profitable farming. There are a 
number of ways in which this desirable result may be obtained. 
Deepening the soil, pulverizing its particles, adding organic 
matter and frequent stirring of the surface are simple and easy 
means for increasing the power of the soil to hold water. The 
amount of water that a soil can hold is in direct proportion to 
the number and size of the particles that compose the soil. 
Every time a particle of soil is broken in two, two new surfaces 
are exposed, and when a particles of the soil is broken in two 
twice we have twice the area of surface for holding water, since 
the soil holds its water on the surface of its particles. Alterna- 
tion in temperature and especially freezing are potent factors in 
crumbling the soil so that it may hold more water. The most 
effective treatment that soils may be given so that they may 
hold more water is found in pulverizing and adding organic 
matter. 

Question: HOW DOES HARROWING, DISCING, 

ROLLING, ETC., HELP THE LAND? 

Answer: Implements are devised for the express purpose of 
crushing, pulverizing and stirring the soil surface so as to mix 
well all materials which compose the soil, thus making it uni- 
form and homogeneous in texture. The crushing, pulverizing 
and stirring reduces clods, and leaves the soil in smaller particles, 
exposing more surface for holding of water and for the liberation 
of plant-food. 

Question: HOW DOES THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION 

OF SOILS AFFECT CROP GROWTH? 

Answer: The materials that a soil contains are determined by 
chemical analysis, consequently the chemical composition of a 
soil is nothing more or less than the many elements and com- 
pounds found in a soil. It has been shown that certain elements 
and certain compounds are essential to crops — that crops cannot 
live or grow without them. If there is one essential element of 
plant growth wanting in a soil plants cannot grow on or in that 
soil. If one element is present in insufficient quantity for the 
full development of a plant or a crop the plant or crop may grow 



94 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



as long as the supply lasts, but no longer, and, while growing 
will make but poor progress, since the supply is insufficient. The 
essential element that is present in the smallest quantity limits 
the growth of crops. Fertilizers are employed for correcting 
this serious defect, since fertilizers are for the purpose of supply- 



ing soil deficiencies. 




Harrowing a field for corn. Harrowing levels the surface, pulverizes the clods, covers the 
seeds, and aids in destroying weeds. A harrow is especially desirable where fertilizers have 
been applied as it mixes the soil well. 

Question: HOW DOES THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF 
SOILS AFFECT PLANT GROWTH? 

Answer: Physics is the science which deals with solids, liquids 
and gases — their properties, their actions and their relations 
to each other. Since crops live in and feed upon solids, 
liquids and gases, the laws which govern these three forms of 
matter must also govern plant growth. The physical properties 
of soils and plants involved in the relationship between the 
two are: porocity, tenacity, hardness, cohesion, adhesion, capil- 
larity, solution, diffusion, osmose, and in an infinite number and 
variety of ways these physical principles make a soil a good one 
or a poor one for the support of plant life. If the physical prop- 
erties of a soil are poor, crops will not grow profitably. It is very 
necessary that the physics of soils be understood if the farmer 
expects to make his soils and crops pay. Knowledge of soil 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 95 

physics will enable him to correct poor physical conditions and 
make the soil a congenial one, one that will readily supply crops 
with food and drink. See that your soil is in good physical 
condition if you want the application of fertilizers to produca 
the best results. 

Question: HOW DOES THE ORGANIC CONTENT OF 
SOILS PROMOTE PLANT GROWTH? 

Answer: One of the many beneficial effects upon the soil is the 
addition of organic matter. If the soil is too porous or not 
porous enough, if it is too tenacious or not as tenacious as it 
should be, if it is too hard or too soft, if it is lacking in capillarity, 
if it does not promote solution and diffusion, the addition of 
organic matter will help it to better do these things or possess 
these properties. Organic matter makes humus, and has the 
additional good effects of enabling the soil to take up and hold 
more water, permit easier and more extended penetration of the 
roots of crops, warms the soil, enables it to be more easily cul- 
tivated, dissolves plant-food from soil particles, increases the 
profit from fertilizers by preventing them from leaching away, 
and organic matter supplies soil conditions that enable the crops 
to make better use of plant-food applied to and found in the 
soil. 

Plant Food 

Question: WHAT DOES THE PLANT DO IF IT DOES 
NOT GET ENOUGH FOOD? 

Answer: If a pig or a steer is confined in a pen without enough 
food to sustain them neither will produce profitable growth. If 
plants do not get sufficient food their growth also will be poor and 
unprofitable. Feed the pig an the steer an abundance of an 
appropriate ration, and they will produce profitable pork or 
beef. Feed the plant an abundance of an appropriate ration, 
and a profitable crop will be harvested. 

Question: HOW SHALL IT BE DETERMINED WHAT 

PLANT-FOOD TO USE? 

Answer: First, by knowing in what element the soil is deficient; 
second, by knowing from experimental tests what each crop 
needs, and then correcting both defects. Commercial fertilizers 
are manufactured for each and every crop grown. The appro- 
priate fertilizer can always be secured, and when applied 
properly an abundant yield follows and the fertility of the soil is 



96 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



maintained. The prudent farmer will never buy or use any- 
thing but fertilizers made by reliable and trustworthy manu- 
facturers. Buy your fertilizers as you buy your seed — nothing 
but the best. 

Question: WHAT MUST THE FARMERS DO IF THERE 
IS NOT ENOUGH FOOD IN THE SOIL? 

Answer: The quantity or amount of yield that any crop will 
produce on a given area of soil is controlled by the amounts of 
plant-foods present and available for supplying the needs of the 
particular crop grown. To produce 60 bushels of corn on an 
acre and the 5000 pounds of stalk, leaves, roots, etc., that goes 
with the 60 bushels of corn, requires 32 pounds of phosphoric 
acid, 84 pounds of nitrogen and 34 pounds of potash; to grow 




A combination Fertilizer Distributor and Planter. This implement marks off the next row, 
opens up the furrow for the Fertilizer, applies it, and covers it up. The furrow is again 
opened up, and the seed is planted, covered up, and finally the soil is pressed firmly around 
seeds by means of a roller. 

1600 pounds of tobacco with its 1400 pounds of stems requires 
16 pounds of phosphoric acid, 76 pounds of nitrogen and 200 
pounds of potash; and to produce 30 tons of cabbage per acre 
requires 70 pounds of phosphoric acid, 200 pounds of nitrogen 
and 270 pounds of potash. If these quantities of plant-foods are 
not present and available these yields will not be secured. If 
there is not enough plant-food in the soil to produce the yields 
desired, the thing to do is to add the necessary plant-food. Fer- 
tilizers are made and sold for just this purpose. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 97 



Question: WHAT IS COMMERCIAL FERTILIZER? 
Answer: The elements that compose food products and the 
sources from which derived are just as well known as the multi- 
plication tables. There is no more doubt about one than the 
other. That plants must be fed is an absolute and indisputable 
scientific fact; the manner of their feeding is determined by the 
Science of Chemistry, and the amount of their feeding by the 
Science of Mathematics. A soil that needs nitrogen must have 
nitrogen; a soil that needs phosphorus and potash must have 
both, and if it does not get them it remains a poor soil. All 
plants need these elements. The principal elements of plant- 
foods commonly deficient in the soil and without which no plant 
or crop can grow are phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash, and 
a high grade commercial fertilizer contains these, the principal 
plant-food elements. A commercial fertilizer that fits the soil and 
fits the crop is the best, and no other is as good. The ideal 
fertilizer for soil and crops is that fertilizer which contains plant- 
food elements in appropriate proportions for and in forms that 
are available to the crop grown. Hence, a commercial fertilizer 
is a compound of plant-foods that crops must have if they are to 
grow. It is a soil builder which if properly applied will not only 
maintain soil fertility but increase it. Besides it will give the 
soil the power to be fruitful and multiply crop yields and give 
forth in increased quantity and in improved quality of the 
fruits of the earth. 

Question: WHAT IS A "COMPLETE" FERTILIZER? 

Answer: Of the ten or a dozen elements necessary to plant 
growth, three — phosphorus, nitrogen and potash — are very often 
found in the soil in quantities too small to supply the needs of 
crops. In some soils only one, in others two, but in a large 
majority of soils all three of these elements are so deficient crops 
can not produce full yields until their deficiencies are supplied by 
adding to them the missing elements of plant food. To meet 
the requirements of this majority of soils fertilizers containing 
nitrogen (ammonia) phosphoric acid and potash must be added. 
Such a fertilizer is a complete fertilizer, since it contains all of the 
needed elements of plant food and, so far as supplying the plant- 
food requirements of soils is concerned, completely supplies 
these requirements 

Question: ARE "FILLERS" AND "CARRIERS" THE 

SAME? 

Answer: No fertilizing material is all plant-food. It is im- 



98 M AKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

possible for this to be since nitrogen is a gas and in its pure 
form is not a plant-food, while phosphorus and potassium are 
minerals and are not found in nature in their pure forms. Neither 
phosphorus nor potash are plant-foods in their pure forms but 
must be chemically combined with other substances before the 
plant can use them. Materials used for making fertilizers and 
containing one or more of these three plant-food elements are 
called carriers of phosphorus, of nitrogen or of potash, as the 
case may be. These carriers may contain their plant foods in 
low or in high percentages according to the nature and the 
quality of the materials, and they must be combined or mixed 
in quantities that will give in the mixed fertilizer the analysis 
desired or guaranteed. Analyses are expressed in percent, and 
2000 pounds or a ton is the commercial unit. 

There is a common belief among many farmers that all mixed 
fertilizers contain a large amount of bulky material, without 
plant-food value, put in them to increase their weight. They 
believe that everything in a bag of fertilizer, besides the three 
actual plant-food elements, is what is commonly called "filler," 
and they believe that all of a fertilizer should be plant-food and 
all available. It is impossible for this to be since no fertilizing 
material is all plant-food. The plant-foods that fertilizers con- 
tain are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and the value of all 
fertilizers is based upon the amounts of these three elements the 
fertilizer contains in available forms. 

These three essential elements of plant-food cannot be used 
by plants in their pure forms. Pure Nitrogen is a colorless, 
tasteless and odorless gas and composes about three-fourths of 
the air we breathe. Neither animals nor plants can use it in its 
pure forms. Pure Phosphorus and pure Potassium are minerals 
and are not found in nature in their pure forms. If pure phos- 
phorus or pure potassium were applied to live plants they 
would kill the plants. 

These essential elements are found in nature combined with 
many other substances and exist in a wide range of proportions 
in these various combinations. This is in accordance with 
nature's laws — laws ordained by the "Creator of all things 
visible and invisible." Nature has distributed the plant-foods 
throughout the world for man's use and they are found on or in 
the earth and are mined, they are taken from the sea and from 
the air, from plants and from animals and prepared and com- 
bined in the cheapest and best plant-food forms. 

The materials with which these plant-foods are combined by 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 99 

nature are not "fillers," but "carriers" of plant-foods, and with- 
out these carriers there would be no fertilizers or manures that 
the farmer could use. If the elements of plant-foods were sep- 
arated from their carriers they would not then be in forms that 
the plant or crop could use. This is in accordance with the laws 
of nature. 

If a farmer wished to use fifteen pounds of nitrogen on a 
certain piece of land he could not apply it in a pure form since 
nitrogen is a gas. Besides there are many tons of nitrogen in 
the air resting over each acre of land, but it is not in a usable 
form. To overcome this, and to have the nitrogen in a form 
that will be available and suitable for plant-food, nature com- 
bines the nitrogen with other materials and thus gives us this 
valuable plant-food in a diluted and usable form, as in the case 
of nitrate of soda which contains 15 pounds of nitrogen in one 
hundred pounds of bulk — nature's proportion or formula for 
nitrate of soda. 

Nature does not confine the application of this law to plant- 
foods and fertilizer materials but to human and animal foods and 
feeds also. Very few of the animal feeds are composed of as 
much as half of available food. Only a small part of many of 
the dishes served thrice daily on our tables is really used or even 
usable as human food, yet we must use the whole bulk to get 
the nutriment in it. The greater part of our foods are unavail- 
able and are conveyed by "carriers," as the plant-foods in fer- 
tilizers. Fruits, potatoes, cabbage, beets, etc., are composed of 
more water than any other one substance. We do not complain 
of the "carrier" materials in our stable and barn-lot manures, 
yet the average ton of such manures contain rarely more than 
30 pounds of plant-food, the remainder, 1970 pounds being 
"carrier" or accompanying bulk put there by nature. 

Question: DO HIGH GRADE FERTILIZERS CONTAIN 

FILLER? 

Answer: No. Filler increases the bulk of a fertilizer and is 
added for the purpose of balancing the analysis, insuring the 
fulfillment of the guarantee and conforming to the fertilizer 
inspection laws of the various states. The purchaser of a fer- 
tilizer should remember that he is paying for the pounds of 
plant-food the fertilizers contain. Some one has said and ap- 
propriately that filler in a fertilizer is ballast. Hence, it will 
be seen that low-grade fertilizers are, as a rule, more expen- 
sive than high grade fertilizers, since a pound of plant-food 



100 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

in the latter costs less than a pound of plant-food in the former. 
Three tons of 8-2-2 fertilizer contains 720 pounds of plant-food 
and two tons of 12-3-3 fertilizer contain exactly the same num- 
ber of pounds of plant-food. If the 8-2-2 goods retails at $24.00 
per ton, three tons will cost $72.00. If the 12-3-3 goods retails 
at $32.00 per ton the two tons will cost $64.00, or $8.00 less 
than the same amount of plant-food in the 8-2-2 goods. Thus 
he who purchases 720 pounds of plant-food in three tons of 
8-2-2 fertilizer has an extra ton to pay freight on, to haul, to 
apply to the soil, and must pay $8.00 more than he who purchases 
two tons of 12-3-3 fertilizer, yet each purchaser gets exactly the 
same amount of plant-food or 720 pounds. High grade fertilizer 
is cheaper and better. 

Should the V-C Company add filler to its fertilizers what 
would it gain? The price of a fertilizer is determined by the num- 
ber of units of plant-food it contains. However, worthless as 
filler might be as a plant-food it would cost a small fortune to 
purchase, ship, dry, grind, screen and mix thousands of tons of 
such materials annually. All of this would be an absolute loss 
to the company since its fertilizers are valued only for its plant 
food units, or the pounds of plant-food in a ton of fertilizer. In 
a high grade fertilizer there is no room for a filler. 

Question: WHAT IS ROCK PHOSPHATE? 

Answer: Many thousands of years ago enormous quantities of 
bones of animals became fossilized — turned to stone — and are 
now found in great deposits in South Carolina, Florida, Ten- 
nessee and other places. These rocks are mined and ground to a 
fine powder called "floats" or ground phosphate rock. This 
rock contains the equivalent of from 26 to 32 percent of phos- 
phoric acid which in this form is but slightly soluble in water and 
consequently but little of it is available for the use of crops as 
plant-food. 

Question: WHAT IS ACID PHOSPHATE? 

Answer: Acid phosphate is the standard carrier of phosphoric 
acid and is made by treating ground phosphate rock with about 
an equal weight of sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid changes 
the phosphorus in the rock phosphate to a soluble form. Thus 
100 pounds of phosphate rock analyzing 32 percent of insoluble 
phosphoric acid becomes 200 pounds of acid phosphate analyzing 
16 percent of soluble phosphoric acid. The phosphate rock after 
being treated with sulphuric acid becomes acid phosphate and the 
phosphorus it contains becomes phosphoric acid. Acid phos- 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 101 

phate and phosphoric acid must not be confused — acid phos- 
phate is the whole material while the phosphoric acid is the 16 
percent and is actual plant-food. Thus a 200 pound sack of 
acid phosphate contains 32 pounds of phosphoric acid, or 16 
percent. 

Question: HOW DOES PHOSPHORIC ACID HELP THE 

PLANT? 

Answer: If plants cannot get phosphoric acid they will die be- 
fore reaching maturity. It is highly necessary to the develop- 
ment and maturity of the seeds of all plants, and increases their 
fruitfulness. Phosphoric acid also aids in making soluble and 
transferring to the seeds the nitrogen compounds so essential 
to the full development of the seeds. 

Question: HOW DOES NITROGEN OR AMMONIA HELP 

THE PLANT? 

Answer: Nitrogen or ammonia exercises a great influence in 
the development of the vegetative functions of plants. An 
excess of nitrogen retards fruitfulness, but with an abundance 
of phosphoric acid and potash present aids in producing a heavy 
yield of well balanced composition. Seeds and leaves are rich 
in nitrogen, consequently full seed and leaf development re- 
quires a full supply of nitrogen. 

Question: HOW DOES POTASH HELP THE PLANT? 

Answer: Potash helps to make the stalks, stems, branches and 
leaf-stems of plants. It is essential to the formation and trans- 
ference of starch; it aids in the manufacture of starch in the 
leaves and in its transference to the fruits. Potash is essential 
to the growth and maturity of the stems or woody parts of 
plants and the fleshy parts of vegetables, grains and fruits. 

Feeding Crops 

Question: WHEN SHOULD FERTILIZER BE ADDED TO 

THE SOIL? 
Answer: Fertilizers should be applied when the crop is not 
developing and producing as it should, when heavier yields of 
better quality and when greater profits are desired. There is a 
deficiency in the soil if crops do not grow well and fertilizers are 
made for the purpose of supplying deficient food materials for 
the use of the plant. The time to apply fertilizers is when the 
land is being prepared for the crop, while the crop is growing 
and whenever it needs to be fed so that it may do the duty 
expected of it. 



102 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



Question: HOW SHOULD FERTILIZERS BE APPLIED 

TO THE SOIL? 
Answer: Fertilizers are added or applied to the soil to make it 
richer. The richest soils have the plant-food elements which 
they contain evenly distributed through them. The best results 
come from fertilizers when they are well mixed with the soil. 
The soil receives the best benefits when fertilizers are applied 
broadcast, spread evenly and well mixed into the soil. Crops 
grown in rows more than two feet apart are fertilized in the 




This is a type of Fertilizer Distributor commonly used for cotton, corn, and other crops 
cultivated in the row. The row is marked, opened and the Fertilizer put down, and then 
mixed with the soil by the solid wooden wheel which follows in the furrow. 



drill, and later additional applications are made between the 
rows. In some cases only one application need be made, in others 
two applications, and others three applications. Implements 
are in common use for putting the fertilizer on or into the soil. 

Question: IS THE MANNER OF APPLYING FERTIL- 
IZERS IMPORTANT? 

Answer: How to apply fertilizers to growing crops is a matter 
of more consequence than might appear at first glance. In the 
first place the applied materials should be finely pulverized 
since lumps or clods are far more objectionable in fertilizers than 
lumps and clods in a field. This is particularly true regarding 
late applications of fertilizer. They should be well pulverized 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 103 

and evenly distributed. The fertilizer may be distributed be- 
tween the rows of growing crops more cheaply by the use of 
that valuable implement known as a combination cultivator 
and fertilizer distributor. When second or late applications are 
made to growing crops the roots of the crops have almost always 
spread far into the "middles" or the spaces between the rows. 
This wide spreading of the root system must be taken into con- 
sideration both as regards the depth of cultivation given the crop 
and as regards the place the fertilizer is put down. It is not at all 
necessary that it be near the point where the plant comes out 
of the ground. As a matter of fact, it is better that it be away 
from rather than near the base of the plant. When a crop has 
reached that stage of its development that calls for intercul- 
tural applications of fertilizer the feeding parts of its roots are 
not near the main stem of the plant, but spread far out in all 
directions. It is the tips of the roots and rootlets that take up 
the plant-food while those parts of the root system connecting 
the root tips with the plant are merely conveyors of plant-food 
— the pipe line system, so to speak — and do not take plant-food 
from the soil. The root tips with their root hairs alone perform 
the function of absorbing food from the earth. Consequently 
an even distribution of late applications of fertilizer over all the 
soil in which the roots are operating is necessary for the best use 
of the fertilizer applied by the crop. 

Not only the distribution, but also the incorporation of the 
fertilizer with the soil is necessary. This incorporation or mixing 
of the fertilizer with the soil is often a very necessary act. When 
the combination fertilizer distributor is used in making the 
application it is of course mixed with the soil and for this reason 
the use of such an implement is urged. On the other hand, if 
the fertilizer is left on the surface of the soil it may remain there 
until rain falls and in the meantime be of no benefit to the crop. 
If rain does not fall for a week or two and no cultivation is given 
the crop its development may have passed that stage at which 
a late application would have been of benefit and the office of 
the fertilizer and increased yields it should have induced are 
lost. The farmers who have become prejudiced against late 
applications of fertilizer have developed their error in the When 
and the How of making the application. He who puts down 
his late applications of fertilizers at the right time in the right 
manner and uses the right fertilizer in the right condition for a 
crop in need of late fertilization will have his wisdom and in- 
dustry rewarded by bountiful yields of high quality. 



104 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



Question: MAY FERTILIZERS BE APPLIED PROFIT- 
ABLY TO GROWING CROPS? 
Answer: Second or intercultural applications of fertilizer are 
each year more commonly practiced and many of the best 
farmers are now making a third application. For cotton, to- 
bacco, corn and many truck and other crops planted in rows 
the later application of fertilizer is an established practice and 
a profitable one. Many farmers apply half of the quantity 
decided upon for a crop before or at the time of planting and 




A Fertilizer Distributor and Planter. The fertilizer is applied first and then the planter 
puts down the seed. Good seed and fertilizer will increase your yields per acre. 

the remainder at some period of growth when experience teaches 
it is most beneficial. This will vary of course with different 
crops and on different soils. It may be assumed that the origi- 
nal or first application is for the purpose of developing the plant 
and the second (and third, if three applications are made) to 
develop the fruit, seed or the part of the plant to be used. The 
fruit of some crops, like wheat or corn all ripens practically at 
one time (if the strain of seed is a well bred one), while crops like 
cotton or tomatoes develop and ripen their fruits through sixty 
or more days. It naturally follows that the right time for mak- 
ing a late application of fertilizer for crops like wheat and corn 
is of brief duration while with crops like cotton and tomatoes the 
right time may be extended over a number of days or weeks. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 105 

The safest rule to follow in deciding when to make the second 
application is to apply just before or at the time the crop is 
beginning to fruit or when the crop demands the largest amount 
of available plant-food for its best development. With corn and 
wheat and other crops which ripen all their seed about the same 
time, the second application should be made when the plants 
show their first signs of tasseling or heading, or just before. 
With crops like cotton, tomatoes, etc., which continue to blos- 
som and make fruit through many days the late application may 
be given when the first blossoms open or a little before. With 
this class of plants a third application may profitably be made 
between fifteen and thirty days after the second. 

Intercultural applications of fertilizers are very profitably 
applied to crops grown for their leaves, such as tobacco, cab- 
bage, lettuce and many others. Applications to be of greatest 
benefit to these crops must be made long before the blossoms 
begin to appear so that the fertilizer may supply the crop with 
plant food while the crop is beginning to make the final growth 
expected of it. A short time before a crop begins its heaviest 
growth — when it has the greatest demand for plant food — is the 
proper time for late applications of fertilizers. If the crop will 
for some time continue to make a heavy growth or through 
many days develop fruit a third application should be made, 
since the object of late or intercultural applications of fertilizer 
is to supply the demands of the crop and enable it to do its duty. 
The more appropriately this demand is met in time of appli- 
cation, character, quality, composition and quantity of plant- 
foods carried by the fertilizer the better will be the character, 
quality, composition and quantity of crop produced. 

Question: IS THERE MORE THAN ONE WAY TO APPLY 

FERTILIZERS? 
Answer: Fertilizers may be applied in five general ways: 
(1) Broadcast; (2) in the drill; (3) in hills; (4) interculturally 
(side applications) ; and (5) as top-dressing. 

Question: HOW IS FERTILIZER APPLIED BROADCAST? 

Answer: Broadcast application of fertilizer is obviously ap- 
propriate for crops that are seeded broadcast, like the small 
grains, grasses, clovers, etc. Broadcast applications are made 
with drills, planters, seeders, etc., that have attachments for 
distributing fertilizers, or with implements especially con- 
structed for the purpose. Broadcasting of fertilizers under the 
above conditions is more effective when the distribution is uni- 



106 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



form over all the surface of the land and when the fertilizer is 
thoroughly incorporated with the upper stratum of the soil 
from one to four inches deep. 

Fertilizers should be used not only for supplying plant-food 




The above view shows a method of Broadcasting Fertilizer which has met with the general 
approval of the farmers who are Making Their Soil and Crops Pay More. 

to the current crop but also for the permanent enrichment of 
the soil. When they are applied with these two objects in view, 
broadcasting is more effective than any other mode of applica- 
tion and not only so for broadcast crops but for crops grown in 
rows also. Fertilizers should be of benefit not only to the crop 
for which they are directly applied, but also for future crops. 
The best farmers and truckers apply more fertilizer than the 
one crop needs, so that the surplus may act as a permanent 
enricher of the soil and the second crop be benefited by the 
residual effects of preceding applications. The cumulative 
effects of heavy broadcast applications are among the best means 
for preventing soils from losing their fertility and a sure means 
by which soils will become richer and richer each year. 

Question: HOW IS FERTILIZER APPLIED IN THE 
DRILL? 

Answer: Fertilizers are applied in the drill or row by the use 
of fertilizer distributors designed for this purpose. There is a 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



107 



large variety of these distributors in use and they vary widely in 
merit and adaptation to different crops and different methods 
of culture. These distributors may be adjusted so as to regulate 
between their maximum and minimum capacities, the quantity 
of fertilizer put down per acre. While gauges or indices point to 
the quantity per acre with the distributor definitely adjusted, 
care must be taken to insure the application desired when the 
distance between rows varies. If the distributor is geared to 
apply 300 pounds per acre with rows three feet apart, more than 
300 pounds will be applied if the rows are 2 Y / 2 feet wide, and less 




A closer view from the rear of the combination Fertilizer Distributor and Planter as shown 
on page 96. Here is easily seen the roller which packs the soil over the seed, and the 
appliance which indicates the next row, and the fertilizer and seed containers. 



if the rows are 4 feet wide. The reason for this is obvious. 
Assuming that an acre is 70 yards square there would be 3640 
feet of rows to the acre if the rows were 4 feet apart, and 4900 
feet of rows to the acre if the rows were 3 feet apart, and 5880 
feet of rows if the rows were 2>^ feet apart. If the distributor's 
feed is not adjusted to the number of feet of rows in an acre 
there is no certainty that the desired quantity per acre is being 
applied. 

Fertilizers applied in the row should not be placed too deep 
nor too near the surface of the soil; they should be uniformly 
distributed so that every foot of row will receive as near as 



108 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

possible the same amount of fertilizer given every other foot; 
the fertilizer should be well mixed with the soil; and, no con- 
siderable quantity of fertilizer should be allowed to come in 
direct contact with the seed. 

Question: HOW IS FERTILIZER APPLIED IN THE HILL? 

Answer: Applications of fertilizers to crops grown in hills like 
melons, squash, cucumbers, etc., is more commonly made in the 
individual hills and this often is advisable, if it is properly done. 
In applying fertilizers in hills it is a mistaken idea that the fer- 
tilizer should be placed in a mass directly in or under the hill. 
It should be applied in and around the hill and well mixed with 
the soil over a space at least two feet square — the center of the 
square being the center of the hill. 

The various kinds of fruit trees and vines especially when 
young may more economically and appropriately be fertilized 
individually rather than by the row or broadcast. This need not 
apply, however, when crops are grown in the young orchard or 
vineyard and these crops are well fertilized. In such cases the 
crops may be fertilized by broadcasting the whole area and 
thus feed both the orchard or vineyard and the crop at one 
application. 

Question: WHEN SHOULD FERTILIZER BE APPLIED 
IN 'THE DRILL OR ROW? 

Answer: This method of fertilizer application is practiced gen- 
erally with such crops as are commonly grown in drills or rows, 
like corn, cotton, tobacco, potatoes, many truck crops, etc.; and, 
the time of application should be a comparatively short while 
before the seed are sown or at the time of sowing. The latter 
should be preferred since it is more economical, inasmuch as one 
implement may be used for both putting down the fertilizer and 
sowing the seed and both be done at one time. If, however, 
heavy applications are made in the drill they may sometimes be 
put down five or ten days before the seed are sown. The fer- 
tilizer should be well mixed with the soil so that no considerable 
quantity of it will be in contact with the seed. 

Question: WHEN SHOULD FERTILIZER BE APPLIED 
BROADCAST? 

Answer: Broadcast applications of fertilizer may be made (1) 
when the soil is being fitted for the seed, (2) when the seed are 
sown, (3) or after the seed are sown. 

(1) Applications made after the land has been broken and 



M AKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 109 

then worked well into the soil with disk and harrow will give a 
most ideal distribution of the fertilizer throughout the soil pre- 
pared and aid materially in developing a seed bed most congenial 
to the crop. 

(2) If the application is made when the seed are sown and a 
combination fertilizer and seed drill is employed much time and 
labor is saved. This is the most common method employed for 
broadcast distribution of fertilizers and is the most economical 
for small or medium heavy applications. If heavy applications 
are made all, or a part at least, should be put down a few days 
before the seed are sown. 

(3) Applications made after the seed are sown should be 
made with a broadcast distributor (or by hand) before the seed 
germinate and the land lightly harrowed or rolled. If rolled the 
harrow or weeder should at once follow the roller. Such appli- 
cations are recommended only in cases of emergency and for 
small seeds that are covered very lightly. 

Question: HOW IS FERTILIZER APPLIED INTERCUL- 

TURALLY? 

Answer: Intercultural and side applications of fertilizers 
usually refer to the fertilization of crops cultivated in rows and 
the fertilizer applied after the crop has begun growth. Such 
applications may be made with the distributors used for fer- 
tilizing rowed crops before planting, but are best made with an 
implement known as a combination cultivator and fertilizer dis- 
tributor. As the name implies, such an implement puts down 
the fertilizer for the growing crop while the crop is being cul- 
tivated and works it into the soil. It really does two very 
important and profitable things at one and the same time and 
may operate only on one side of a row at a time, on both sides ; 
or, it may cultivate the crop and apply the fertilizer to two rows 
at a time — depending upon the construction of this valuable 
implement. 

Intercultural or side applications of fertilizer has become an 
established custom very widely adopted in comparatively recent 
years, and on account of its profitableness is practiced more and 
more each year for increasing yields of practically all field, truck 
and orchard crops and for adding to their quality. While the 
application of the fertilizer may be and often is made by hand 
this method is slow and expensive and every farmer is urged to 
possess one or more of the implements made especially for this 



110 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



purpose that he may not only make the application more econ- 
omically but much better and reap through the efforts of one 
operation the benefits of needed plant-food (applied when the 
crop demands it) and needed cultivation. 




A modern two row fertilizer distributor and cultivator. This method of cultivating destroys 
weeds, applies fertilizer and also keeps the soil in a good physical condition. 



Question: HOW IS FERTILIZER APPLIED AS A TOP 

DRESSING? 
Answer: Top dressing has the same object as intercultural 
or side applications of fertilizers and differs from it in no ma- 
terial way except in manner of application, and, that top dress- 
ings are most commonly made to broadcast grown crops 
However, some interpret "top dressing" to mean the application 
of fertilizers to growing crops and construe it to mean "side 
application," "late application," and "intercultural applica- 
tion." This interpretation is immaterial since the principle 
underlying all is the same and the only difference is the manner 
of application. Top dressing is the "finishing off" process in the 
production of good crops. It is the application of plant-food at 
the "pyschological moment" — when fertilization gives best re- 
sults. When all the fertilizer intended for a crop is applied 
before the seed are sown there is a constantly decreasing quantity 
of plant-food in the soil and constantly increasing size or volume 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 111 

of crop to be supported. When the crop begins to develop its 
fruit or seeds a top dressing of appropriate composition is of 
greatest benefit and increases the yield and quality of the crop 
often to a remarkable extent. 

Applications of top dresser to broadcast grown crops may be 
made by hand or by broadcast fertilizer distributors to the 
crop while it is growing. If the condition of the soil and the 
habit of the crop will permit the application should be followed 
by a harrow, weeder, or some surface stirring implement. This 
will incorporate the fertilizer with the soil and it will become 
available to the crop as soon as the soil moisture dissolves it. 
If the soil surface is dry when the top dresser is applied it can 
not be dissolved or reach the roots of the crop before rain falls 
unless it is worked in with a harrow, weeder, or some similar 
implement and thus come in contact with moist soil. 

Question: WHAT ADVANTAGE HAS TOP DRESSING TO 

CROPS? 

Answer: A comparatively new practice in the use of fertilizers 
and one which is bringing heavier yields and greater profits is 
top dressing with commercial fertilizers. This practice embraces 
both conservation and preparedness since an application made 
just when the growing crop needs increased quantities of food, 
the food is taken up then and it is not washed or leached away 
as may be the case if all the fertilizer was applied at one time 
and before the crop even begins to grow. Top dressers applied, 
two, three or four times as cotton, corn, tobacco, truck crops, 
etc., are being cultivated and worked into the ground (or, sown 
broadcast, for broadcasted crops like small grain, meadows, 
etc.), is a practice by which needed plant-food is applied when 
most needed. A top dresser of composition appropriate to the 
crop to which it is applied and supplying the soil's deficiency in 
plant-food is a most logical practice since it is a means to an 
end and the end is attained. 

Question: DO FERTILIZERS MAKE THE SOIL RICH? 

Answer: A poor soil is one which does not contain enough 
plant-food to supply the needs of a big crop. Fertilizers are 
plant-food. If the right kind of high grade fertilizers and enough 
of them are applied, the soil is made rich. If it is to remain rich 
and fertile the food supply must be maintained. 



112 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 




Part of a 475 acre field of cotton on land which has been in cultivation for over 100 years, 
on plantation of Mr. F. W. Taylor, near Greenwood, La. Mr. Taylor is an enthusiastic 
user of V-C Fertilizers. 



Question: DO FERTILIZERS SAVE LABOR? 

Answer: The heaviest item of expense in growing crops is 
labor. With many crops the cost of labor for producing a low 
yield is almost as great- as the cost of labor for producing a high 
yield. The labor cost of preparing the land, planting and cul- 
tivating an acre that produces 25 bushels of corn is practically 
the same as that required to produce 50 or even 100 bushels per 
acre. It costs practically the same (and often more) to cultivate 
a poor or infertile acre of land as it costs to cultivate a rich or 
fertile acre. Poor or infertile land is poor because it contains an 
inadequate supply of plant-food and the judicious use of com- 
mercial fertilizer is the chief means by which it may be made 
rich and yield, without additional labor, heavier crops of better 
quality and at a lower cost of production. When labor is diffi- 
cult to get and when it is high in price crop production may not 
only be maintained but increased by the use of increased quan- 
tities of fertilizer. This is strongly illustrated in a bulletin 
written by Dr. B. W. Kilgore, Director of the North Carolina 
Experiment Station. Dr. Kilgore's report is based on a number 
of experiments the object of which was to ascertain the profits 
accruing from the use of varying amounts of fertilizer applied to 
cotton. The tabulated results given below are based upon the 
normal cost of both labor and fertilizers. 





MAKING SOIL 


AND CROPS PAY 


MORE 


113 


Fertilizers Save Labor 


No. of 
Acre 


Lbs. of 

Lint 
per Acre 


Cost of Fer- 
tilizer Used 
per Acre 


Cost of 

Labor 

per Acre 


Total Cost 
per Acre 


Value of Lint 

per Acre at 

20c per pound 


N'tPr'fitper 
Acre Not Incl. 
Value of Seed 


1 

2 
3 
4 


105 
215 
430 
500 


No Fertili- 
zer Used 

$ 3.00 

7.00 

10.00 


$35.00 
35.00 
35.00 
35.00 


$35.00 
38.00 
42.00 
45.00 


$ 21.00 

43.00 

86.00 

100.00 


-$14.00 
+ 5.00 
+44.00 
+55.00 



The value of the lint from Acre No. 1 on which no fertilizer 
was used was $14.00 less than the cost of production. Three 
dollars invested in fertilizer for Acre No. 2 resulted in a profit 
of $5.00, a narrow margin of profit. On the other hand, when 
$7.00 and $10.00 worth of fertilizer, respectively, were, used on 
plots Nos. 3 and 4 the profit above the cost of labor was $44.00 
and $55.00. It would have required eleven acres receiving only 
$3.00 worth of fertilizer to have made the profit one acre made 
when $10.00 worth of fertilizer was used and eleven times the 
labor would have had to be employed. While this may be an 
exceptionally wide margin it has been duplicated and exceeded 
thousands of times with high priced crops such as tobacco, cot- 
ton, truck crops, etc. It is a striking example of how farmers 
may serve their country and themselves in trying times and when 
an abundance of cheaply produced crops becomes an economic 
and patriotic duty. 

Question: DO FERTILIZERS IMPROVE THE QUALITY 
AND INCREASE THE MARKET VALUE OF 
CROPS? 

Answer: In addition to the profits reaped from increased pro- 
duction and reduced cost of production which comes from the 
judicious and liberal use of fertilizer there are other important 
and often overlooked benefits derived from fertilizers. Since 
fertilizers are scientific and practical plant foods it is to be ex- 
pected that crops which are liberally fed the foods they are in 
need of will develop higher qualities as well as produce higher 
yields. This is universally proven in practice and, in recognition 
of the better qualities, the market will and does pay a higher 
price for well fed, well developed, healthy and wholesome prod- 
ucts. No one expects a half starved cow to give good milk, or a 
half fed hog to make rapid gains of high price pork, or a half fed 
horse to do a full day's work. Food produces quantity and 
quality of milk, pork and work in these three kinds of animals 
and food — plant-food — does the same thing for plants. It makes 



114 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

more plants, better plants and plants worth more since there are 
more products to use or to sell and the products are more val- 
uable and sell at a higher price. High qualities are always 
sought and always command a higher price. One cannot make 
a "silk purse out of a sow's ear" nor can one make higher priced 
truck, orchard and farm products from underfed plants and crops. 

Soil Conditions 

Question: WHAT SOIL CONDITIONS MUST BE PRESENT 
IF FERTILIZERS ARE TO BE EFFECTIVE? 

Answer: That a crop may be able to make the best use of the 
plant-food already in the soil and the plant-food in fertilizers 




Thorough cultivation is essential to good plant growth after the soil has been well 

supplied with Plant Food. 

applied to the soil, the soil itself must be in such condition as 
will supply all the demands of the crop. The soil must be deep 
and fine. Depth of soil is obtained by deep plowing and sub- 
soiling, and a fine soil is secured from thoroughly plowing, 
followed by the best use of such implements as the disc, smooth- 
ing harrow and other harrows, and a roller if clods make the 
use of a roller necessary. Clods allowed to remain in or on a soil 
are not entered by the roots of crops. Clods seriously check the 
growth of plants by withdrawing plant-food from their reach, 
and reducing the water-holding power of the soil. The soil 
must be well drained to a depth not less than three feet if the 
full benefit is to come from fertilizers and from the plant-food 
found in the soil. 

Humus enables the soil to hold more water and hold it 
longer, and loosens the soil by preventing it from baking or 



M AKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 115 

running together into clods. Lime aids in pulverizing the soil 
and, if acid, makes it sweet. Deep, pulverized, well drained 
soils with a good supply of humus, if not acid, are congenial to 
crops, supplying their physical needs and enabling them to 
enjo}' good health and make good and profitable use of fer- 
tilizers. Good soil conditions make healthy crops. Sick animals 
and sick plants cannot make good use of foods. 

Question: HOW SHALL ACID SOILS BE CORRECTED? 
Answer: Lime is a "digestor" of plant-food. It corrects acid 
soils, making them sweet and habitable to plants. It aids in 
making potash a better food and enters into the structure of all 
plants. Lime is especially beneficial to legumes, such as clover, 
cowpeas, alfalfa, beans, peanuts, etc. 




Method now extensively used in the application of lime. 

Question: DOES THE COLOR OF SOIL AFFECT CROP 
GROWTH? 

Answer: Soils may be brown, red, yellow, gray and black. 
While the kind and color of rocks from which soils are disinte- 
grated partly control their color, it is controlled more by the 
amount of organic matter and by the form of the iron in the 
soil. The more organic matter a soil contains the blacker and 
more fertile it is. Red and yellow soils become brown and darker 
if organic matter is added. Black or dark soils absorb the sun's 
heat more than lighter soils, and if well drained will produce 
better crops earlier. Radiation of heat from the soil is also 
affected by color. Dark soils may be worked earlier in the spring 
and later in the fall, and on account of their higher tempera- 



116 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

tures more plant-food becomes available, and the length of time 
plants may continue in best growth is extended. However, any 
soil may wear out, no matter what its color may be. Even a 
very black soil may be an infertile one, such as shale soils which 
are at times actually barren. 

Question: WHAT EFFECTS HAVE MANURES ON CROPS? 

Answer: A ton of manure contains about five pounds of phos- 
phoric acid, seven pounds of nitrogen and eight or nine pounds 
of potash, which is not so much plant -food as is contained in a 
200-lb. sack of complete commercial fertilizer. It is evident 
that manures can only in a limited way compensate for the 
absence of commercial fertilizers. On the other hand, a liberal 
application of manures enables the farmer to get better and 
more profitable returns from commercial fertilizers, since manures 
in several ways act beneficially upon the soil, especially so in 
improving their physical condition and water holding power. 
Manures also increase the bacterial population of the soil, for 
beneficial bacteria are great promoters of fertility and plant 
growth. Manures affect beneficially the color of soils, aid in 
making unavailable plant-food available, make the soil warmer, 
looser, more easily worked, and check leaching and soil wash. 
Fertilizers may nearly always be more profitable applied to 
soils filled with humus than to soils deficient in humus. The 
greatest benefit to soils from manures comes from the increased 
quantities of humus that result from applications of manures. 
Care should always be exercised in the use of stable manure 
since it is liable to cause the spread of insects, fungus and bac- 
terial diseases, and the introduction of weed seeds. 

Question: IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE A GOOD SEED- 
BED? 

Answer: A good beginning is very helpful to a good ending, 
and good preparation for many crops is more necessary than any 
other one thing the farmer can do. A good seed-bed is secured 
by thorough breaking to a depth appropriate for the particular 
soil under treatment and for the crop to be grown, a thorough 
pulverization of the soil, especially for small seeds, and a com- 
pacting of the soil to at least a moderate degree so that the seeds 
majr come into intimate contact with the soil particles and 
promptly absorb moisture for quick and uniform germination. 
A well prepared seed-bed better controls the soil water, presents 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



117 



conditions for the ready delivery of plant-food to the plant roots, 
and enables the young roots to spread and to penetrate further 
as they seek water and food. The seed-bed is the home of the 
young plant in which it not only lives but from which it gets its 
food and water, and the more nearly its home is a congenial one 
the more sturdy and rapid will be germination and growth of 




Preparation of seed bed. The caterpillar tractor is here shown using the three types of 
harrows, the disc, cutaway disc and spike tooth harrow. 



the plants, and the more profitable will the crop be. 
and good seed-beds mean a good stand. 



Good seeds 



Good Seeds 

Question: ARE GOOD SEEDS NECESSARY TO PRODUCE 

GOOD CROPS? 
Answer: A farmer may have the best soil, the best climate, 
and the best fertilizers, yet without good seeds he cannot pro- 
duce the best crops. The seed makes the plant and plants make 
the crop. Good seeds are true to name, sound, strong in vi- 
tality and free from weed seeds, adulterants and mixtures. 
Without good seed the farmer is not assured of a good stand, or 
a crop of good yield and high quality. Like begets like. If the 



118 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



stand of corn on an acre is ten percent less than a perfect one 
there will be a loss of ten percent in the failure to utilize all the 
land, ten percent of the cultivation and of the fertilizers will be 
lost, and the yield will be ten percent short. Good seeds will 
often yield twice as much as poor seeds. By purchasing inferior, 





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Making a germination test of corn seeds. The seed samples that do not produce strong 
vigorous shoots should be noted, and the ears from which they were taken should be discarded. 

cheap seeds the farmer is often subjected not only to the above 
losses but introduces many weeds that for years to come may 
annually increase his labors and reduce his crop yields. 



Question: IS IT IMPORTANT TO PLANT ONLY GOOD 
VARIETIES? 

Answer: The selection of good varieties is equally as important 
as the planting of good seeds. Varieties of a crop like different 
crops vary widely in their adaption to soil, climate and uses. 
A poor variety of apples may have no sale value, yet the trees 
occupy the same area that the trees of a good variety occupy. 
A poor variety of cotton may yield only a fourth of a bale of 
lint to the acre, while a good variety would yield a bale on the 
same land, though both be given the same care, treatment and 
fertilization. Certain varieties of the various crops are well 
adapted to some localities, and certain varieties poorly adapted, 
and large profits will come to the farmer who seeks, finds and 
grows the best variety for his farm. Likewise great loss will 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



119 



result if a poor or even an average variety is grown in the place 
of one of the best. Each farmer should choose only the best 
varieties, improving these by careful selection from each kind 
every time the new crop is harvested. 




Question: 



Rack used for the storing of seed corn. 

HOW MAY CROPS BE IMPROVED BY SEED 
SELECTION? 

Answer: Within recent years science has thrown a strong 
light upon the laws of heredity, and applied to seed selection 
in crops these laws have been the means of developing the art of 
selection so that the average farmer may practice it with great 
profit. Very profitable increases in yield, quality and other 
properties of plants may easily be secured by any one who will 
go to the trouble of becoming familiar with the simple practice 
of the art. Plants vary widely within families and varieties, and 
the selection from those which transmit the tendencies to vary 
in desirable directions will establish a strain of superior ability 
to give heavy yield, large size, better color, or superior quality 
of any kind. The same principle of selection has long been 



120 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



practiced with domestic animals by many breeders. In any 
collection of plants will be found some that are poor, some that 
are very superior, and many that are between the two extremes. 
The selection of only the best for seed, and always the best each 
year, and those that came from the best the year before will soon 
develop a strain superior in yield and quality. 

Question: DO FERTILIZERS IMPROVE THE QUALITY, 
VITALITY AND HIGH REPRODUCTIVE 
POWER OF SEEDS? 

Answer: Every one knows and appreciates the value of good 
seeds and every one should know that no matter how carefully 
seeds may be grown, selected and kept they will not and cannot 
reproduce high qualities and abundant yields unless they are 
sown in well prepared, enriched soils and otherwise given that 
treatment necessary for their best development. A healthy, 
strong and fully developed plant will produce the best seeds and 
if not well fed it cannot do this. Like produces like in successive 
generations of plants when each generation is given full oppor- 
tune for the best development. Plant-food when utilized by 
the growing crop makes the crop through the transformation of 
the air and earth food materials into plant tissue. If the plant 
or crop is not adequately supplied with the food materials nec- 
essary for it to most perfectly perform its divine mission — the 
reproduction of its kind — it cannot do this. An undeveloped 
plant or one weakened and dwarfed by being underfed cannot 
fully perform its "divine mission," nor reward the husbandman 
by bringing forth the "best of its kind." The best seeds are 
produced by the best plants and the best plants are those which 
are fed best. 

Question: HOW DO CROPS CROSS AND BECOME 
MIXED? 

Answer: A very large proportion of our important crops are 
propagated from seeds, and seeds are produced from pollen, the 
male organ of plants, and the pistil, the female organ. The 
pollen which is found in the anther, which is the top of the fila- 
ment, is carried by the wind, insects, etc., and coming in con- 
tact with the stigma, the enlarged top of the pistil, extends 
downward through the style and fertilizes the ovules, and these 
develop into the seed. Without pollen and pistils' plants cannot 
form seeds. The pollen from closely allied plants have the 
power of fertilizing or pollinating each other, and it is by this 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



121 



cross-fertilization that hybrids or crosses are developed. If one 
kind of corn or one kind of cotton develops seeds from the pollen 
of other kinds of corn or of cotton the seeds that result will be 
crossed, and may partake of the character of either parent, or 
both, or may develop new characters, which may be or may not 




Male and female flower of the Watermelon plant. The female or pistillate flower is to the 
right, and the staminate or male to the left. 

be desirable. Some plants cross very readily, like corn, and some 
cross but slightly like wheat. 

Plants that produce seed are of three classes, their classi- 
fication being controlled by the relative positions of their male 
and female parts. Some plants have both male and female 
parts in one blossom, like tobacco, legumes, cotton, wheat, 
peaches, etc. Some have two kinds of flowers, one male and one 
female, like melons, corn, oaks, pines, etc., and some have all 
their female parts on one plant and all their male parts on 
another, like persimmon and juniper. The ease with which 
pollen may be blown by the wind and carried by bees and other 
insects is responsible for the crossing of many crops. Indis- 
criminate crossing is largely responsible for the "running out" 
or deterioration of some crops, and it is often necessary to plant 
only one variety of a crop in a field if the seed are to be kept 
pure. The precautions that must be taken in order to keep seed 



122 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



pure and make them better vary with different crops, and the 
farmer should become familiar with the practices necessary 
for keeping his seed pure, and should know how to grow good 
seed and make them better by selecting the best from each crop; 
or better still, grow a seed patch and have it separated from other 
crops that would cause crossing. Some crops produce better 
from seeds fertilized with pollen from the same plant that pro- 
duce the seeds, like tobacco and cotton, while corn should be 
fertilized with pollen from other plants than those from which 
the seed are saved, but the pollen should come from plants of the 
same variety of corn. 

Planting and Cultivating 

Question: WHAT DISTANCES SHOULD CROPS BE 

GIVEN IN THE ROW? 
Answer: If crops habitually grown in rows are given too much 
distance between the rows and between the plants in the row 
the yield will be reduced, and the same undesirable result will 
follow if the rows or the plants in the rows are too close. The 
habit of growth and the manner of fruiting, the preparation of 
the soil, its natural fertility and the quantity of fertilizers applied 
and the season, all these affect the distance or the ''stand" that 
crops should have. Only good judgment and experience are 

safe guides. Examples 
of wide variation in the 
numbers of plants that 
will give the best re- 
turns on a given area 
are found in a compari- 
son of the best dis- 
tances to plant cotton 
and corn. Corn should 
be planted thickly on 
rich land, and further 
apart on poor land; 
cotton should be grown 
thinner on rich land so 
that each stalk may 
spread and produce 
more bolls, and thicker 
on poor land so that 
space will not be lost 
between the plants. 

A cultivator in common use on shallow cultivated 
crops such as corn. 




MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



123 



Question: DOES GOOD SOIL PREPARATION MAKE 

CULTIVATION MORE EFFECTIVE? 
Answer: If the soil is not well prepared before the seeds are 
planted or the plants set out, as the case may be, the lack of 
preparation will not only affect the germination of the seed and 
the growing off of the crop by having an uncongenial home for 
the plants, but the subsequent cultivation of the crop cannot 
be as effective nor can it take the place of good preparation. 




A poorly prepared field like this one will not grow good crops. Moisture cannot circulate well 
in the soil and the large number of clods prevents a goodly portion of the best of the soil from 
being used by the crop. Had these clods been crushed and the field then harrowed a good 
seed-bed would have been prepared and a good crop would result. 

Good preparation pulverizes surface and undersurface soil, 
enables the soil to take up more water on account of its greater 
fineness and increased porosity. Preparation starts the soil off 
in a good condition. Poor preparation leaves the soil cloddy, 
harsh and often there is too much thrashy material on the sur- 
face, all of which interferes with cultivation and makes it less 
effective, more difficult and more expensive. Good preparation 
brings about conditions favorable to a greater supply and a well 
maintained supply of water, makes plant-food more available 
and enables the roots of the crops to penetrate further and have 
an extended feeding area, admits air and warmth, etc., while 
cultivation maintains these desirable conditions. 

Question: WHAT BENEFITS ARE DERIVED FROM 

CULTIVATION? 
Answer: If, after a field of cotton, corn, tobacco, cabbage or 
potatoes, has been planted, no further cultivation should be 
given these crops, the failure would be marked. The main 



124 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



objects of cultivation are the keeping of the soil in good condi- 
tion while the crop is growing, and the destruction of weeds. 
Cultivation pulverizes and loosens the surface, prevents the 
formation of a crust, checks the evaporation of water from the 
soil, prevents wide fluctuations in the moisture in the soil, 
modifies the extremes of temperature, kills weeds which would 
shade the ground and rob the soil of plant-food and water, and 
increases the effects of manures and commercial fertilizers by 
maintaining conditions in the soil which enable the crops to 
better utilize both the natural and applied food, and prevents 
the loss of plant-food and moisture that would be used by weeds 
if allowed to grow. 




Dip one end of a lump of sugar in coffee and the. coffee will rapidly rise through the lump. 
The grains of sugar which compose the lump are very small but have been closely pressed 
together and the coffee easily passes from one particle to another and the whole lump becomes 
wet with coffee. Soil-water will spread quickly through finely pulverized and compacted 
soil in the same way. 

Question: WHEN AND HOW SHOULD A CROP BE CUL- 
TIVATED? 

Answer: Since the object of cultivation is to keep the surface 
of the soil in good condition and to destroy and prevent weeds, 
it is evident that frequent cultivation at the right time with the 
right implements will prevent the surface from getting in a poor 
condition and prevent the growth of weeds. If the soil is not 
allowed to get in poor condition, and weeds are not allowed to 
grow, the soil is continuously in good condition, and weeds can- 
not do harm if not allowed to grow. If the field is not in the 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



125 



best condition when a crop is planted cultivation should begin 
with a light harrow or weeder before the seeds are up. Light 
and thorough cultivation at this time hastens the germination 
by breaking the clods, admitting air and conserving water, and 
the plants come up promptly and strong. Cultivation should 
begin after each rain as soon as the soil is dry enough, and should 
be done with that implement which will most quickly, cheaply 
and thoroughly stir all the soil surface and pulverize it to the 
proper depth for the soil and crop. 




Cover another lump of sugar with finely pulverized sugar and dip the lump in coffee. The 
coffee will rise rapidly through the lump of sugar but very slowly through the loose sugar on 
top of the lump. This illustrates the value of a pulverized and compacted soil upon which 
an earth mulch has been made. The mulch holds the moisture in the soil. 

Question: WITH WHAT IMPLEMENTS SHOULD A CROP 

BE CULTIVATED? 

Answer: Great ingenuity has been displayed by modern imple- 
ment inventors in devising cultivators for every class of soil, 
every kind of crop and every variation in the methods employed 
for the preparation of the soil for different crops. Some crops 
are sown broadcast, some in continuous drills or rows, some at 
various intervals in drills or rows, and some in squares, triangles, 
etc. Implements are in use for the cultivation of all these. The 
best implement with which to cultivate a crop is one that will 
best work the spaces between the rows or between the plants in 
the rows or both. A cultivator should stir all the soil and stir it 
well, leave a fine earth mulch on the surface, prevent weed 



126 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 

growth before it begins, and destroy all weeds that have begun 
to grow. Weeders and harrows will cover a wide surface if em- 
ployed as soon after a rain as the soil is dry enough and give the 
best soil condition, incidentally destroying weeds as they are 
germinating. Later on cultivators with fewer and larger work- 
ing points must be used so that they may enter the soil which is 
harder, and cut the roots of weeds that have begun to grow. 




Another type of two row cultivator in common use. Fertile, well prepared and well cultivated 

soil will produce abundant crops. 

Question: WHY DO PLANTS HAVE ROOTS ? 
Answer: Roots anchor or fix plants in the soil and supply them 
with food and water. The roots are the mouths of plants, and 
the active parts of them are covered with minute root hairs 
through which the food and water enter. The larger roots are 
the throats of the plants through which food and water are 
carried into the plants and then to the leaves which act as both 
stomachs and lungs for the growing plants. Crops cannot grow 
without roots, and the more roots each plant has the more food 
it is capable of taking. It is evident then that cutting or bruis- 
ing of roots by cultivation is injurious. A very large proportion 
of the roots of crops is found in the prepared soil near the sur- 
face. If cultivation is deep the roots are broken and the plant 
suffers. If cultivation is frequent and shallow the roots are not 
only unmolested but the stirring of the soil above them holds 
water where the roots are, admits air and develops conditions 
favorable to root and plant growth and to the exercise of root 
and plant functions. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



127 



Question: WHY IS CULTIVATION SO IMPORTANT IN 

DRY SEASONS? 
Answer: When rain falls upon the earth it soaks into the soil 
until the surface is full and any additional rain will run off. As 
soon as rain ceases to fall moisture begins to evaporate back 
into the air. Evaporation takes place at the surface of the soil, 
and the water evaporated comes from down in the soil through 
the little holes or capillary tubes it descended through. Culti- 
vation in dry weather breaks up and covers over these tubes 
so that the water that rises is intercepted below the surface and 
is there held by the soil particles just where the greatest number 
of feeding roots are found. Thus it is seen that cultivation in 
dry weather not only prevents large quantities of water from 
evaporating but holds the decreasing supply where it is most 
accessible to the roots of the crop. 




The soil in the bottom of this foot print is not only compacted but the clods are crushed. The 
darker appearance of the bottom of the foot print is due to the moisture that has risen to the 
surface of the soil. The roller and other surface compacting implements produce this effect. 
If the surface soil remains as it appears in the foot print or is left by the roller the moisture 
will rapidly evaporate into the air. A thorough stirring of the soil surface will form a loose 
earth mulch and trap or retard the passage of the water into the air thus maintaining a supply 
for the crop. 

Question: HOW LATE SHOULD CULTIVATION BE 

CONTINUED? 
Answer: Many farmers make the great mistake of having a 
certain date in a certain month for ceasing to cultivate their 
different crops. This is a mistake more often than otherwise, 
since it is a common practice to "lay by" or stop the cultivation 
of a crop at just the time when cultivation will do it great if not 



128 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



the greatest good. Cultivation is for the purpose of making the 
soil a better place for the crop to live and grow in. It is more 
proper to say that the soil is cultivated, not the crop. From the 
time a crop is in full blossom on until the seeds or fruits are 
deyeloped is when the crop uses the greatest quantity of plant- 
food and water, and uses them in the briefest time, consequently 







Two horse common plank drag. An excellent tool for crushing clods and compacting the soil, 
which insures perfect capillarity, allowing the seed to come into direct contact with the 
noist soil. 

shallow cultivation should be continued for the benefit of both 
soil and crop. Late cultivation not only benefits the growing 
crop but leaves the soil in better condition for the next crops, 
and destroys weeds that would injure the growing crop at its 
fruiting time, and that would mature weeds that would injure 
the next crop on that land. 

Rotation of Crops 

Question: WHAT IS ROTATION OF CROPS? 
Answer: The amounts of plant-food removed by different crops 
varies widely. Grain crops remove phosphorus in excess; 
tobacco and root crops take large quantities of nitrogen. If one 
crop is grown on the same land for a period of years the ele- 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 129 

merits of plant-food used by that crop in the largest amount 
will be unduly reduced, while elements not used largely will un- 
duly increase. If another crop follows the first one, and this 
second crop has little demand for the element most in demand 
by the first, and a greater demand for the element the first crop 
consumed the least of, the growing of these two crops alternately 
would conserve the soil's fertility. While this could not be said 
to- represent a system of rotation, yet it illustrates one of the 
most important effects of the rotation of crops. 

Some crops feed heavily upon the subsoil, get their food deep 
down in the soil and raise it to the surface. Their deeply pene- 
trating roots open the way for the descent and rise of water and 
for the better penetration of the roots of future crops. Air is 
more freely admitted and performs its invaluable functions. 
Other crops feed near the surface and rapidly consume the 
plant-food within their reach. The system of rotation which 
employs these kinds of crops will enable the farmer to make 
better and more profitable use of the plant-food in the soil, and 
will not exhaust it. 

Some crops are sown broadcast like hay crops, small grain, 
etc., while some are sown in drills and cultivated. The treat- 
ment of these two classes varies widely. If crops sown in rows 
are grown continuously in the same field there will be a loss of 
humus and water holding power of the soil, washing will be 
more severe, the surface will become harsh and uncongenial and 
more difficult to work. 

"Rotation of Crops " does not merely mean the change of 
crops grown on a given field nor is diversification synonymous 
with rotation. Rotation of crops means the establishment of a 
cropping system by which the several crops grown on a farm 
may systematically rotate from field to field in such order as 
to balance and distribute the draft upon the resources of the 
farm, economize in the utilization of fertilizers and at the same 
time make them more profitable, avoid the toxic effects of some 
crops, destroy weeds, lessen the injurious attacks of diseases and 
insects, regulate, control and conserve the water supply, in- 
crease the humus supply in the soil, facilitate diversification, 
distribute and economize labor and at the same time supply the 
home need and produce money crops for the financial needs of 
the farm. 

Question: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ROTATION? 

Answer: Rotation aids in rapidly freeing the land of noxious 
weeds; drives away or starves out injurious insects; gets rid of 



130 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



fungus and bacterial diseases; admits of the introduction of a 
variety of crops and promotes diversified farming; enables the 
farmer to use cover crops and catch crops to greater advantage; 
distributes the labor required for preparation, cultivating, har- 
vesting and marketing through the year; avoids an undue rush 
of work at one season and idleness at another; and enables the 
farmer to use fertilizers more wisely and to get greater profits 
from them, thereby making his soil and crops pay more. 



Suggested Rotations: 

1. 
First Year. 

Corn with Cowpeas. 
Second Year. 

Wheat, oats or rye followed 
by Soy Beans. 
Third Year. 
Crimson or Bur Clover. 
Cotton. 
3. 
First Year. 

Cotton followed by a 
Legume or Small Grain. 
Second Year. 

Small Grain followed by 
Cowpeas or Soy Beans. 
Third Year. 
Crimson Clover plowed 
down for Corn with Cow- 
peas in the Corn. 



2. 

First Year. 

Wheat and Red Clover. 
Second Year. 

Red Clover. 
Third Year. 

Corn and Cowpeas. 
4. 
First Year. 

Tobacco followed by Clover 
and Grass Mixture. 
Second Year. 

Clover and Grass. 
Third Year. 

Clover and Grass. 
Fourth Year. 

Corn and Peas. 
Fifth Year. 

Wheat or Oats cut for Hay 
and followed by Tobacco. 






RED CLOVER 



CRIMSON CLOVER 






SOY BEAN 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



131 



Question: HOW DOES ROTATION BENEFIT AND REST 
THE LAND AT THE SAME TIME? 

Answer: While rotation rests the land, at the same time it also 
produces a crop, conserves plant-food and moisture, adds 
organic matter to the soil, enables the soil to resist drouth, 
avoids the robbery of plant-food by noxious weeds, deepens the 
soil, enables the soil to more judiciously and profitably respond 
to applications of fertilizers, gives surer crops and heavier yields, 
distributes labor through the year, enables the farmer to get the 
most out of his land with the least soil exhaustion, to diversify 
and make greater profits with less expense and thus keeps the 
soil so fresh, well fed, healthy and vigorous that the growing of 
one crop leaves the land strong and ready for the next. 

Question: HOW DOES ROTATION BENEFIT THE CROP? 
Answer: Rotation balances the plant-food supply in the soil 
and a greater variety of crops may be grown; it supplies the 
different crops with greater quantities of the kinds of food that 
each crop needs most; it protects the crop from drouth, insects, 
diseases and weeds ; makes the home of the crop more congenial ; 
gives better opportunity to prepare the soil best for each crop; 
gives each crop the best chance; and, larger, better and more 
profitable crops are produced at a minimum cost, with the least 
injury to the land, and there is less danger of crop failures. 




MELILOTUS (SWEET CLOVER) 




HAIRY VETCH 




VELVET BEAN 



Question: HOW DOES ROTATION CONSERVE AND 

RESTORE FERTILITY? 

Answer: Rotation aids in maintaining good soil conditions and 
conserves fertility in addition to aiding in checking the damage 
done by weeds, insects and diseases. Growing the same crop on 



132 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



an area of land continuously unfits the land for the crop grown 
or for crops of similar character or habits and requiring the same 
cultural treatment. If a legume crop is grown continuously for 
several years on the same land and the crop harvested there 
will be an accumulation of nitrogen in the soil and diminished 
supply of phosphorus, potash and lime. If clean culture crops 
like cotton and tobacco are grown continuously the nitrogen 
supply in the soil will be seriously decreased. Clean culture 
crops tend to decrease the humus supply of the soil and the 
soil becomes poor on account of the loss of humus and the con- 
sequent deterioration in the physical properties. It is obvious 
that a system of rotation planned for the purpose of (1) checking 
weeds, insects and diseases and cleansing the land; (2) of resting 
and restoring the land by leaving it in sod or growing legumes; 
and (3) growing a money crop will not only check the loss of 
fertility but actually make the land more and more fertile and 
at the same time use the plant-food in the soil rationally. 

Question: WHAT CROPS SHOULD BE GROWN IN 
DIFFERENT SECTIONS AND ON DIFFERENT 
FARMS ? 

Answer: Successful farming in any section of any country and 
on individual farms is primarily controlled by the selection of 
such crops for each farm as are best adapted to the climate of 
that section, adapted to the soil and to the seasonal distribution 





Kentucky tobacco field of Mr. D. W. Myers, Horse Cave, Ky. Mr. Myers is an enthu- 
siastic user of V-C Fertilizer and says, "V-C has given me perfect satisfaction from start 
to finish." 

of rainfall. A Wisconsin farmer would not attempt to grow 
cotton, nor would a New England farmer attempt to grow 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 133 

oranges. There is quite a number of distinct crop sections scat- 
tered throughout the United States, and it is a business problem 
to grow most extensively only the crops that succeed best in 
the various sections. Sugar cane in Louisiana, cotton in South 
Carolina, alfalfa in Colorado, rice in Texas, wheat in Kansas, 
tobacco in Kentucky, corn in Illinois, red clover in Indiana, 
timothy in New York are examples of special adaption of crops. 
A number of crops are usually adapted to any one section, and 
the owner of one individual farm should not only choose crops 
adapted to his soil and climate but also those for which there is 
the greatest demand, those that he knows enough about to 
successfully grow and market, and those that give the highest 
net profit. 

Question: WHY ARE SOME SOILS ADAPTED TO SOME 
CROPS AND NOT TO OTHERS? 

Answer: While temperature and rainfall are controlling in- 
fluences affecting the profitable culture of all crops, yet with 
both these present there are special soil conditions and com- 
positions necessary to the profitable cultivation of many soils. 
Corn probably is the most widely adapted important crop grown 
in the United States, and tobacco the most specifically exacting 
crop. The quality of corn only to a slight extent is affected by 
soil types, while the quality of tobacco is controlled by soil types. 
The size of the particles which make a soil, the compositions of 
a soil, a soil's ability to permit water to be freely distributed in 
it, and the forms and proportions of the elements of plant-food 
found in a soil may make it suited or unsuited to a crop or 
several crops. While the unsuitableness of some soils may to 
some extent be overcome by soil treatment that will alter soil 
conditions, and soil feeding that will improve its composition, 
the highest degree of success will come from the selection of the 
crops in each locality which are best adapted to existing soil 
conditions. 

Crop Enemies 

Question: ARE PLANTS ATTACKED, INJURED AND 

KILLED BY DISEASES? 

Answer: Every plant grown is subject to disease. The dis- 
eases which affect them are nearly all fungi, such as rust and 
smut, or bacteria, like wilt and blight. Fungi and bacteria 
live as parasites within the tissues of plants, and always injure 
and often destroy whole fields. Their destruction of crops 



134 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 



amounts to millions of dollars in losses each year, a large pro- 
portion of which could be avoided if the proper precautions were 
taken to avoid, prevent or destroy the diseases. Losses from 
diseases may be checked by rotation of crops, by growing re- 
sistent varieties, and by combating them by the use of sprays. 
Vegetables, and especially fruits, are often sprayed with great 
success, and the investment of a dollar in spraying often gives a 
profit of ten or more dollars, and may save a crop from total 
destruction. Knowledge of the life history of plant diseases and 
of the remedial methods best adapted for combating them is 
necessary to the profitable growing of many crops, and the 
farmer who is not prepared to successfully fight them runs the 
risk of losing a part or all of his crops. 

Question: ARE INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CROPS? 
Answer: Insects are not all injurious for many are of great 
benefit to crops and to man. Many plants depend largely upon 
insects for pollination, and many other insects do no harm. 
There are also many insects which live upon and destroy those 




This illustration shows the life history of the Boll Weevil, from the egg to the mature insect. 
This insect annually destroys over $20,000,000.00 worth of cotton in our Southern states. 



MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 135 

that are harmful. More than $200,000,000 worth of silk is an- 
nually produced by the silk worm, and in the United States 
alone the honey bee produces nearly $25,000,000 worth of honey 
annually. 

Insects may attack every part of every plant. Large areas 
of forests are annually destroyed by insects, and millions of 
dollars of damage is done to standing timber. It is safe to place 
the loss to our various crops from the ravages of insects at ten 
percent per annum. It is estimated that the loss from the codling 
moth alone amounts to an annual sum of $12,000,000. The boll 
weevil annually destroys $20,000,000 worth of cotton, and the 
chinch bug destroys $40,000,000 worth of grain each year. This 
is a $72,000,000 loss annually from three insects alone and it is 
probable that there are half a million different kinds of insects, 
many of which are destructive to crops. A knowledge of the 
means effective in the control of insect pests should be possessed 
by every farmer, orchardist, trucker and live stock man. Control 
of insects often doubles the income from a crop, while uncon- 
trolled they may destroy whole crops and always do them great 
damage. 



— \ 






1 



